What If Zuko Won?
by donki-shouben
Summary: WITCH says goodbye to the Avatar's world. But who stays? Plus: Katara's tearful parting with Aang! Including a soundtrack! As the epilogues continue. It's almost over!
1. A Hasty Decision

_There exist worlds beyond our own, parallel worlds separated by the choices made by the those living therein at a critical moment, choices that affect their own lives, the lives of everyone on the planet, or even the universe!_

_Call it 'the road not taken', call it 'what might have been', call it..._

_WHAT IF?_

What If Zuko Won?

By Shawn Evans

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

W.I.T.C.H. and related characters copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Avatar: The Last Airbender and related characters copyright Nickelodeon

ooooooooooooooo

"Sokka!!! **Nooooo!**"the blood-curdling scream rang out, echoing across the war-ravaged land of the Fire Nation.

The earth parted, and young, trembling hands reached for the broken, lifeless body of the proud warrior of the Water Tribe.

Through her tears, the blind earth bender faced the one responsible for the teen's tragic fate. "You killed him! You killed Sokka!!" she raged.

"No! It's not my fault!!" the mega-upset blonde earth elemental from Heatherfield sputtered, defiant rage and sorrow in equal measure spilling out of her mouth. "It's, this is all your fault!! Yours and Aang's! You should never have come here! You should never have attacked us!"

How did this truly unfortunate event come to be?

How did two people who had grown to respect, and even like, each other come to blows, fighting on opposite sides in a conflict that had spanned a hundred years?

More importantly, how did Sokka die?

For the answers, we will have to turn back the hands of time.

In the universe we know, the Guardians were flung across the dimensional boundaries and found themselves on a world much different from, and yet very similar to, the Earth they had called home.

There, people trained for years to master the elemental forces that were granted to the Guardians of the Veil in an instant.

Separated, and bereft of their most powerful mystic artifact, the Heart of Candracar, the five Keepers of the Elements struggled to survive. Eventually, they came together and sought out allies to regain the missing Heart, which had acquired a new owner - Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation!

Seeking the help of the Avatar, the one being in this new world who had the ability to channel the four elements of air, water, earth and fire and thus the power to defeat this new foe, the five girls from another realm elected to join him and his compatriots on a leisure trip to gain the Avatar's trust.

And all went well...until the fire bending, Heart-powered Zuko made his presence known, and attacked our combined group of heroes.

Eventually, after much battle and heartbreak, the heroes prevailed. The world was saved, the villains were defeated, Prince Zuko lost the power of Candracar and with it, the power to change the world he blamed for taking so much from him.

But what if things happened differently?

What if...Zuko won?

Chapter 1: A Hasty Decision

On vacation, Appa the sky bison set down next to the fabled Tomb of Quo Jin. His passengers Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph and guests Irma, Cornelia and Hay Lin disembarked.

And there they waited to be joined by their winged Guardian teammates, Will and Taranee, who had gone ahead to scout their destination.

But such was not to be.

_Guys!! _ the telepathic Taranee shouted into the three Guardians' minds. _Something's happened! Come quick! But come alone! I'll fill you in when you get here!_

Seeing Irma, Hay Lin and Cornelia rush off, Aang asked "Hey, what's going on?"

"Ah, it's..." Cornelia began, unsure of what to say.

"We, ah, really have to go!" Irma said, thinking quickly.

"All three of you?" Sokka curiously inquired.

"Yeah! It's uh, a female thing! We all go to the washroom together!" the Water Guardian snapped back.

Sokka and Aang then stared at Toph and Katara.

Feeling the two boys' body movements through the earth beneath her feet, Toph responded. "Don't look at me! Sugarqueen and I have never gone to the bathroom together!"

Hurrying to where the thought-casting Fire Guardian instructed them, the three half-powered Guardians were stunned by the sight that greeted them in an alcove near the sprawling, miles-long Tomb complex: Their friends Will and Taranee, trapped in bubbles of Candracan energy, prisoners of Prince Zuko, possessor of the Heart of Candracar!

_Sorry, guys! _ a dejected Taranee informed them. _He got the drop on us and made me call you! Or else he was gonna..._

"Let them go! Now!!" the furious Earth Guardian demanded.

"You're in no position to order me around." the cool, yet fiery, Zuko stated. "And no one has to get hurt. Not as long as you do what I say."

"That'll be the day, flamebrain!" Irma dared the powerful Prince. "Let our friends go, or you'll be in for a world of hurt!" she threatened, reminding the fire bender of the pain she had caused him back in Avatar Town.

"You. Especially you." Zuko, seething with a quiet anger said, pointing at Irma. "Shut up. Or..." He then constricted the globes of energy containing Will Vandom and Taranee Cook, causing them to cry out in pain!

Seeking to stop her friends' suffering, Hay Lin tersely asked "What do you want?"

"Ah. Finally. A sensible one." Zuko responded. "It's very simple. I require your services to save the Fire Nation and end this insane war. Pledge yourself to me, and I will let one of your friends go now, with the other to follow at the completion of your service."

"Are you loopy, pal?! We'd never agree to anything like that!" Irma rejected the Fire Prince's offer.

"Irma, don't be so hasty!" Cornelia said, trying to cool down her hot-headed companion. "We have to think about what's best for Will and Taranee!"

"I can't believe you're going along with this, Corny!!" bellowed Irma Lair. "This guy's nothing but trouble! I don't care what pretty words he uses, he's threatening our friends!"

Irma then launched an impromptu attack against the Fire National, sending a whip of water at him at that slashed his face and knocked the Heart from his hand!

For a moment, but only a moment, it looked as if the Guardian of Water would win!

But Cornelia and Hay Lin hesitated, taking no action to press their temporary advantage, and Zuko quickly recovered!

He ordered tendrils of energy to slither towards the battling water elemental, but the energy tentacles ran into an obstacle - Cornelia's plants!

The quick-growing vines shielded the watery one from Zuko's wrath! Then the Guardian of Earth, concerned the ultra-powerful Zuko's hatred of Irma could lead to an early death for the Keeper of Water, used the telepathic link all the Guardians shared to tell Hay Lin _Get her out of here!_

Stunned by the request, and unsure of what to do, the Air Guardian did not move. Then she got the rest of the plan from Cornelia. _Get help! Get Aang!_

Quickly, Hay Lin soared to Irma, grabbed her, then turned both of them invisible and flew off to get Aang and the rest.

But Zuko would not stop!

His Heart of Candracar-enhanced senses told him where Hay Lin was, even though he couldn't see her, and energy beams shot out of the Heart towards the fleeing girls!

To be again blocked by Cornelia's fast-sprouting greenery!

Zuko said nothing. His rage was all too apparent in the fire that issued out of his body, fire that incinerated all of Cornelia's plants in an instant!

Then he motioned to the energy globes, determined to carry out of his threat.

"No! Stop!" Cornelia pleaded. "You don't want Irma or Hay Lin, anyway! We're the powerful ones on the team! Take us!"

_Cornelia, what? _Taranee telepathically wondered.

_I had to tell him something to keep him from chasing after Irma and Hay Lin! Or else he was going to hurt them! Hurt all of you! Besides, it is true. We are the most powerful members of the team! _Cornelia responded, in likewise fashion.

And Zuko did stay his hand. The energy constructs did not shrink, did not cause their unfortunate occupants any further pain.

"You would serve me?" Zuko directly asked the harried earth girl. "And your friend, the fire girl?"

"Yes. I...I promise to serve you." Cornelia replied, her voice breaking. She then kneeled before the flame-shrouded Prince Zuko, tears welling up in her eyes.

"And you, girl?" he said, looking at Taranee. "Will you serve me?"

"Taranee." she corrected the new Keeper of the Heart, in an attempt to salvage some self-respect. "And yes, I'll serve you." she said, in a voice drained of emotion.

While a frantic Will banged on the spherical walls of her prison, unable to be heard, Zuko freed the now complaint Taranee from her force bubble and, together with new recruit Cornelia, opened a fold in space for them to travel through.

But Cornelia's behavior irked the honor bound Prince.

"Dry those eyes." he declared. "I said I needed you to help the people of my country, and that's the truth! I won't ask you to do anything you find objectionable."

Then the four went into the fold, which promptly vanished.

Speeding to the scene, Aang, Hay Lin, Katara, Irma, Toph and Sokka found naught but some withered, charred plants and stagnant pools of water.

_Next:_

_Happy Outcomes!_

_Serving the Zukester isn't that bad, the girls find._

_(Except for the part about fighting the Fire Nation and challenging Fire Lord Ozai to an Agni Kai!)_

_Plus, Aang & Co. discover the benefits of having Air & Water Guardian help!_

_Beyond that?_

_Anything we couldn't do in the original series!_

_As for Zuko, expect both kinds - Good and Bad!_

_And I mean Really Good Zuko, and Really Bad Zuko!_

_(You'll see what I mean by the end of the story!)_

_This is gonna rock!_

Notes

This story diverges from _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar _near the end of Chapter 26. Everything previous to that happened for the purposes of this story, including the flashback chapter (Interlude Sixteen: Romance Ridge).

The Zuko in this tale is the conflicted Prince Zuko from "Bitter Work", the midpoint of the _Avatar_ series. Torn between his old 'quest for honor' and a new life free of his past, Zuko chanced upon the Heart of Candracar, a magical item with the power to grant his every wish. He goes down one path in _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar. _This story is about another, darker path. It's also the Zuko I'd like to see.

For those _Avatar _fans joining us due to the extra stories posted in that section, you may be asking yourself 'Who are W.I.T.C.H.?' W.I.T.C.H. is Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin, 5 teen girls (ages 13-14) from the modern city of Heatherfield chosen by the Oracle of Candracar to protect the balance of worlds and fight evil. They're called the Guardians, and each commands an element: Will - Energy, Irma - Water, Taranee - Fire, Cornelia - Earth and Hay Lin - Air. As youngsters with elemental powers, they're very much like the kids on _Avatar_. But very different, too, which is a source of problems later on. There were two seasons of an animated W.I.T.C.H. TV show that still plays on Toon Disney late at night. If you like _Avatar_, you'll probably like W.I.T.C.H., especially Season 2. The second season is better than Season 1 of W.I.T.C.H., although Season 1 is still pretty good. There's also a comic book which started in Italy years ago, and the first 16 issues were translated and sold as 8 graphic novels in the United States (still available on Amazon and at Borders, I believe). (You can find the English language Philippines versions of the comic series on ebay, although they're expensive).

Aang and the rest of the GAang make early appearances in _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_ but don't really enter the story until Chapter 23. If you want to see how the Candracar-powered Zuko fares in a fight between the combined forces of the Guardians and Aang, Katara, Toph & Sokka, read Chapter 27. Also of note is Chapters 20 & 21, when the girls fight alone against Zuko, and Chapter 17, the Guardians versus Azula, Mai & Ty Lee! Not to mention the Avatartastic adventure of Aang and the others in the modern world in Chapters 28 & 29, plus Cornelia falls for the rebel Jet in Chapter 14! So much Avatary goodness! Yum!

It isn't surprising Cornelia and Taranee go along with Zuko's deal, since they are the more logical-minded members of W.I.T.C.H. Irma, on the other hand, is the emotional, impulsive and cynical one, so it's no wonder she rejected Zuko. Hay Lin, meanwhile, is the free spirit of the group, so she couldn't bear to make an oppressive vow like that. Will could have led them to the right decision, but she was taken out of the picture. In addition, Zuko got the two Guardians his people would like the most - Taranee the Fire Guardian (it's no surprise the Fire Nation would love her!) and Cornelia the Earth Guardian (though similar to an earth bender, Corny has plant abilities that set her apart from the Fire Nation's number one enemies, making it easy for them to form a bond with her. Plus, her hair is the color of the sun, which would no doubt score points with the fiery ones). Hay Lin and Irma, on the other hand, as 'air bender' and 'water bender', would be seen as akin to their country's ancient rivals/enemies and instantly disliked by the citizens of the Fire Nation. Thus, they're not useful to Zuko's plans.

Zuko also deprived Aang and his group of the most powerful Guardians, making them 'easy pickings' for later.

Both _W.I.T.C.H. _and _Avatar _are story-driven fantasy adventures about young people with elemental powers. Therefore, the two series combine very well. However, while similar, there are key differences, which makes for interesting crossover tales.


	2. Happy Outcomes

_There exist worlds beyond our own, parallel worlds separated by the choices made by the those living therein at a critical moment, choices that affect their own lives, the lives of everyone on the planet, or even the universe!_

_Call it 'the road not taken', call it 'what might have been', call it..._

_WHAT IF?_

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Chapter 2: Happy Outcomes

_This is all your fault, Irma!_ Cornelia Hale thought to herself as she dodged fireball after fireball. _If you hadn't been such an impatient butthole, if you had only waited, we could have gotten the drop on Zuko and rescued our friends! But you had to go off half-cocked, and get yourself in trouble! Trouble I had to get you out of, as usual!_

Then her reverie was broken by an arc of flame that got too close for comfort, and nearly singed her eyebrows!

"Yipe!" Cornelia exclaimed. _I gotta do something about these guys! But what?? There's too many for my telekinesis to take out!_

Moments earlier, Cornelia, the Earth Guardian from Heatherfield, and her teammate, Taranee Cook, the Guardian of Fire, had been dropped off by Prince Zuko at the entrance to the Fire Lord's Palace.

Zuko, the new Keeper of the Heart, had one command for his new 'assistants': Prove your worth.

But the reluctant Guardians of Candracar had other things on their minds.

Such as, where was their leader, Will Vandom, the Energy Guardian who was still a captive of Zuko, and whose energy prison had entered the fold the same time as they did?? She was nowhere in sight!

"Your friend is in a safe place. Now, you have your mission, so I suggest you get to it." Zuko curtly replied.

"You did a double fold, didn't you, you sneaky bast-" Taranee uttered.

She was stopped short by some new arrivals...a full contingent of the Fire Lord's guards!

Zuko then disappeared, and the two Guardians ran for cover!

Once she had ascertained the number and location of her foes, Taranee engaged the fire benders in a fire duel! However, unlike the fire elementals of this world, she could fly! (And make fire shields!) One on one, the Guardian of Fire could even 'turn off' a fire bender's ability to generate flame! True, Taranee was very powerful, maybe the most powerful 'fire bender' ever. But with so many to fight, there was only so much she could do.

Cornelia, meanwhile, had her own problems.

Since she was not at full power, her control over earth was limited.

She tried to ensnare as many guards as she could in her grasping vines, but they quickly chopped them with their swords and/or burned them off with their fire bending.

The trained soldiers gave chase, and Cornelia fled to the upper levels of the Palace.

Which was not the best move, since there was no soil beneath the floorboards from which plants could sprout!

As the persistent Fire Nation militia crept ever closer to her hiding place, Corny spied the wall behind them. It was under reconstruction (because of Zuko's earlier assault on the Palace, although Cornelia had no knowledge of that), and propped up by two by fours.

So the Guardian of Earth focused her telekinetic power, knocked down the supporting pieces of wood...and pulled the wall down, right on top of the fire squadron!

Making good her escape, Cornelia searched for her friend.

"Taranee!" she yelled, upon finding her. "Where were you?? I could have been killed!"

"I…was a little busy." the Fire Guardian coolly replied.

Then she moved aside, revealing a small mountain of unconscious fire bender soldiers at her feet.

"Oh." was all Corny could say to that.

"Now what do we do??" Cornelia wondered.

"Now...We see my father." answered Zuko, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

ooooooooooooo

_This is all your fault, Corny! _ Irma Lair darkly mused, as she wandered the Si Wong desert of the Earth Kingdom, baking under the cruel sun, sand getting in, like, everywhere, in search of the stolen Appa. _If you hadn't been such a fraidycat jerkwad, we could have beaten Zuko and I wouldn't be in this mess!_

After Aang & Co. fruitlessly searched the area of the vast Tomb of Quo Jin by air for the missing Will, Taranee and Cornelia, the occasionally crafty boy from the Water Tribe, Sokka, surmised that, if Zuko was no longer hunting Aang the Avatar and needed a safe place to take his captives, then he most likely took the three Guardians somewhere he was most familiar with - the Fire Nation - regardless of his banishment from his home country.

But before Irma, Hay Lin, Aang, Katara, Toph & Sokka could mount a rescue mission, they needed to know where to go. They needed a map of the Fire Nation.

A map that a Professor Zei, who they had met in a watering hole, told them existed in a 'Spirit Library' in the desert.

The group had found the Library shortly thereafter, but the Spirit who inhabited it was a curious creature, indeed.

The Knowledge Spirit known as Wan Shi Tong insisted upon a scholarly offering before he would allow anyone to peruse his collection.

But after Air Guardian Hay Lin gave him a photo of the Guardians of Infinity taken when they were in Candracar, the Great Owl fell silent and stared at the photograph, then waved off any further gifts, telling Aang and the rest they were welcome to any of the information in his Library. Wan Shi Tong then retired to his study, his bemused foxes following after him.

Sokka could not believe their luck! (He thought he would have to trick the snooty Spirit to get the dirt on their enemy).

Though the Fire Nation wing of the Library was a desolate ruin, the GAang still managed to find what they were looking for.

Even better, Sokka discovered the secret to defeating the Fire Nation!

But luck such as that could not last.

"Aang!! Ahhh!!" Toph screamed, as she fell down the inside of the library's towering spire. She had desperately tried to warn the others and, in her haste, lost her footing.

The blind earth bender would have gone splat on the floor of the Library, were it not for the waterspout formed by Irma the Water Guardian, which broke her fall and gently lowered Toph until her feet were once more on solid ground.

"Toph! What's the matter?!" the concerned Katara asked.

"They, they took Appa!!" Toph cried. "I couldn't stop them! I'm so sorry!"

"Who, Toph??" Aang sadly inquired. Appa was far more than a pet. The air bison was Aang's animal guide, bonded to the young Air Monk at an early age. Appa was as much a part of Aang as his limbs, or his tattoos that denoted mastery of the air bending arts. The thought of being without his precious Appa tore a hole through the Avatar's heart.

"Sand benders!" Toph answered.

And so, a new search and rescue operation was begun.

Aang in his glider soared in one direction, while Hay Lin flew in the other.

Irma, Katara, Sokka and Toph trudged through the sand in yet another direction, hoping to maximize their chances of locating the bison thieves.

Irma was able to condense enough water out of the dry air to enable them to survive, but making their way through the huge, unfamiliar desert was still tough, hot work.

Then, when the moon hung low in the night sky, a flying figure appeared.

Aang!

But he was alone.

"I, I couldn't find him!" Aang cried.

"Cheer up, Aang!" Katara consoled him. "Hay Lin's still out there. Maybe she'll find him!"

"Yeah. You're right. Hay Lin is still out there! All alone! Maybe she ran into trouble!" Irma worried. She had already lost three of her friends. Would she lose another?

ooooooooooooo

"Hold on!" Taranee demanded of the Heart-powered Zuko, as he led them deeper into the Palace of the Fire Lord. "What's the big idea, ditching us to fight all those fire benders by ourselves??"

"Yeah!" Cornelia agreed. "What do you need us for, anyway? You could have taken them, easy!"

"I had to see if you were worthy." Zuko replied.

"Worthy of what?" Taranee pointedly asked.

"Of facing my father, the Fire Lord." Zuko calmly stated, as if what he said was as easy and normal as ordering food from a street peddler.

"You want us to fight your dad?? He's like, the meanest, baddest fire bender ever!" the Earth Guardian howled.

"You said you were powerful." Prince Zuko retorted, throwing Cornelia's words back in her face. "Also, I had to leave you to make preparations."

"Preparations??" Taranee questioned. "Oh, why does that not sound good?" she added, rhetorically.

Then Zuko led the two Guardians of Infinity into a narrow, rectangular courtyard lit by the noonday sun.

The stands on both sides of the lengthy courtyard were filled with high-ranking Fire Nationals, a captive audience forced to bear witness to the momentous event soon to unfold, trapped as they were by Zuko's Heart-formed energy bonds.

At the far end of the arena stood Zuko's father, Fire Lord Ozai, who was also bound securely by Candracan energy.

Though unable to move, his eyes darted to and fro, stalking the new arrivals like a predator about to devour his prey.

"I said when I returned I would take your throne, father." the confident Prince stated.

"So face me like a man, Prince Zuko! Challenge me in an Agni Kai!" dared the Fire Lord.

"I do challenge you to an Agni Kai, father. But I shall not fight you." Zuko then indicated Cornelia and Taranee. "They will. These two will defeat and depose you."

"What?!" the Fire Guardian sputtered.

"Are you serious??" the Earth Guardian yelped. "Fighting the Fire Lord is bad enough, but a, a _duel? _That's crazy!"

"Ha! You would have your lackeys do your work?" the dread Lord of Fire laughed.

"Lackey?! Hey! We're no lackeys!" the sensitive Cornelia exclaimed.

"I will have no part of such a ridiculous contest against mere girls, Zuko!" Fire Lord Ozai declared. "Your lack of honor is appalling! Begone before you embarrass yourself and your family any further!"

"If you desire additional incentive, father, then here is my offer: If you defeat these girls, I will renounce my name and title forever and leave, never to return." Zuko declared. "What's more, I will give you this!" he added, displaying the Heart of Candracar.

"Zuko, you can't give the Fire Lord the Heart! He would do terrible things with it!" Taranee argued.

"Then I suggest you win this battle, Guardian." Zuko frostily replied.

"But why us? Why can't you fight him? It seems to me you have a lot of unresolved daddy issues, anyway!" the tart-tongued Cornelia psychoanalyzed the teen Prince.

"I need to break Ozai's hold on power. If I defeat him, the only way to ensure he wouldn't pose a threat to my rule, to the peace of our nation, would be to kill him. But I'm not a monster, no matter what you may think! I can't kill my own father!!" the son of the Fire Lord explained.

"Oh, I get it!" Taranee said, snapping her fingers. "If two girls from outside the Fire Nation take him down in this combat ritual, he would lose all respect and therefore wouldn't be able to gain support for a coup!"

"Exactly!" Zuko beamed, thankful someone 'gets it'.

"Taranee, you agree with him??" a disbelieving Cornelia bluntly asked.

"It makes sense!" the logically inclined Tara Cook reported.

"You know what else makes sense?" the emotionally savvy Cornelia Hale postulated. "That the scarred Prince Zuko wants to humiliate his father just as his father humiliated him!"

_Careful, Cornelia. _Taranee thought-cast to her friend.

"You would do well to watch your words...What is your name?" Zuko acidly asked.

"Cornelia." she tersely replied.

"Watch your words, Cornelia! You don't know what you're talking about!" Zuko scolded/threatened.

"Oh, I know all about the 'banished Prince'! Everyone's heard the story of how you lost your honor fighting your father and had to search the world for the Avatar to regain it, only to fail!" said the defiant (and probably stupid) Corny, angering the one man with the power to destroy her utterly.

"You know nothing about me!!" Zuko raged, demolishing a nearby wall with a bolt of electrified fire. "Remember your friend! You **will** face Ozai in this Agni Kai! Understood?"

Cornelia, momentarily taken aback by the angry teen's destructive show of power, averted her eyes and obediently answered "Yes." Then she paused to gather herself, picked her head up, looked Zuko straight in the eye and said "Sir."

The Prince then turned to his sire. "Well, father? Will you accept these opponents? Or are you afraid of two 'mere girls'?" Zuko zinged.

"If it means I will never have to see your dishonorable face again, I agree to your terms." Ozai chuckled.

"This shouldn't be too bad, Corny." the Guardian of Fire suggested. "Not after I turn off Ozai's fire bending, anyway!"

"No. This has to be a fair fight." Zuko told her.

"Say what now?" the shocked T retorted.

"You heard me!" Zuko testily replied, the threat left unspoken, but clearly understood.

Then the Keeper of the Heart, Prince Zuko, released Fire Lord Ozai from his restraints and the battle was joined!

Fire benders believe the best defense is a good offense, and the Fire Lord was certainly proof of that!

His masterly quick jabs, punches and kicks shot numerous fireballs and bursts of flame at the flying Fire Guardian, who reflexively used a ring of fire to shield herself from the furious attack.

Then Taranee used her ability to control fire to send Ozai's flame back upon him!

Stunned at this display of heretofore unknown fire bending moves, the leader of the Fire Nation retreated!

Unable to believe their eyes - their Lord was _losing! _- the crowd gasped!

And if the battle had continued that way, Tara very well may have won!

However, the confined space worked against the Guardian of Fire.

Backing up while she worked her magic (she was creating a dragon made out of fire to ensnare the Fire Lord - Taranee, with her love of photography, was somewhat of an artist, after all), she unfortunately flew into a wall!

The moment's respite gave Lord Ozai all the time he needed to come up with an effective counter attack.

To her credit, Taranee lasted longer than most. Few had faced the Fire Lord and lived. Fewer still had escaped unscathed.

In the end, it wasn't the flames shooting out of Ozai's limbs that brought her low.

No, it was his lightning that took down the Fire Guardian.

And so, the pleasant, brainy girl from the rather unassuming town of Heatherfield, who would much rather practice her photography, or dancing, or hang out with her friends or her beau, Nigel, fell before the Fire Lord's terrible might.

Cornelia's response?

She shook in her brown booties!

_Oh God, he's coming towards me! What do I do? Think Think! What would Caleb do?? _Her feverish brain worked overtime, considering how the young Meridian warrior would handle someone of Ozai's mettle. Caleb had gone up against foes far more powerful than himself many times, after all.

_He thinks I'm a fire bender! I can use that!_ she quickly surmised, as the Fire Lord took a duel position in front of her. He cracked his knuckles, smiled and bent a finger in her direction, inviting Cornelia to go first. She took in her surroundings, and devised a desperate plan.

_I'm only gonna get one shot at this before he turns me into shish-ka-bob..._ the Earth Guardian pondered her strategy.

First, she telekinetically tipped over the two decorative fire braziers behind Lord Ozai, spilling their flaming embers onto the hard floor of the Agni Kai arena, sparks flying as they hit the ground.

The fiery display served to distract the Fire Lord only a moment, but it was all Corny needed!

She ran to the fearsome Lord of Fire, grabbing the rubble (created by Taranee's fight) with her mind as she did so, flinging it at him!

This second distraction shielded the teen earth elemental from Ozai's wrath, enabling her to get close, because the blonde Guardian figured close combat was the only way she could possibly defeat him!

Cornelia manipulated floor tiles shaken loose by the earth-shattering battle of the two powerful fire fighters, levitating them before her. She jumped on one, then the other, using them as steps to launch herself at and over the Fire Lord!

She intended to brain the dread Lord with a large rock she had scooped up in her mad dash, ending his threat!

But the leader of the Fire Nation was quick.

So quick!

Though blinded by the dust and pebbles Cornelia telekinetically threw in his eyes, Ozai immediately reacted to the danger posed by the earth girl and let fly a wide arc of flame that burned Corny in mid-leap!

And down she went.

Sprawled on the ground and out of options, Cornelia Hale faced Fire Lord Ozai by herself. Faced certain death, all alone.

And Cornelia, who had always relied on others for help, aid, support...panicked!

First, she lost control of her ability to grow, and shrank to her true age and height.

A happy accident, since by doing so she managed to avoid a fire blast that would have taken off her head!

Then the Fire Lord, maddened at being denied his rightful victory, advanced on the young girl with murderous rage!

Before he could loose the killing blow, Cornelia's emotions spiraled out of control! She thought about the power-mad Ozai gaining the Heart of Candracar. She thought about the people of the world, people she had met in the Earth Kingdom, losing the war and their freedom. But mostly, she thought about all those she would never see again! Taranee, Will, Hay Lin, Irma...her parents, even her sister, Lillian...her best friend, Elyon...Caleb...

**NO!!** she screamed, all the frustration and anger she felt shooting out of her along with the defiant word.

The desperate Guardian's power over the growing things of the earth caused a rare plant to sprout from the cracks in the floor of the Palace, a plant native to the Southern Swamp of the Earth Kingdom - Poison Popper Pod bushes!

The ominous greenery shot thorny, toxic projectiles at the Fire Lord and he collapsed, gasping for air, spasming in pain as the deadly chemicals on the tip of the thorns attacked his nervous system!

The captive crowd shuddered in shock and fear! How could anyone, let alone a mere slip of a girl, defeat the mighty Fire Lord?!

"The reports from the colonies are true! The female with dandelion hair is a plant bending witch!" one yelled.

"Is the Fire Lord dead??" another wondered, echoing the thoughts of many in the room.

"No, I…I didn't mean to do that!" the stressed-out Cornelia, slowly regaining her senses, said upon realizing the harm she had caused.

"Of course you didn't. You're a good person." The honeyed words dripped easily from the mouth of the unusually warm Prince of the Fire Nation, comforting the stunned Guardian of Earth, who was still in her younger, smaller aspect. Zuko then placed his hand upon her shoulder in a show of concern and further eased her troubled spirit when he added "Don't worry. Our healers will take care of my father." as the Fire Lord's physicians took him to a room to recover.

_What? Zuko is being…nice? But...This doesn't feel like an act. _the confused Cornelia Hale thought to herself.

The Keeper of Fire, whose auramere energy-infused body had quickly recovered from the rigors of combat, awoke to find their captor's arm around the young and, presumably, far more vulnerable persona of her fellow Guardian.

Though unaware of all the details of the situation, she immediately sensed trouble and speedily moved in to stop it.

"Get away from her!" the protective Taranee angrily demanded of the one she pledged to serve.

Then she gently walked Cornelia out of the Palace's Agni Kai arena. No one said another word.

But Zuko grinned.

ooooooooooooo

"Look! " Aang, in the Si Wong desert, said, pointing at a large object outlined against the moon. "It's Appa!"

Then the object dissipated.

"No, Aang. It's just a cloud." Katara sadly informed the last air bender.

"Hey! I think I see something!" Sokka loudly announced, moments later.

"Yeah yeah!" Aang dismissed the Water Tribe teen. "It's great you want to make me feel better, Sokka, but I'm not getting my hopes up!" he sadly said.

"No! I mean it! Look!" the boy warrior replied, pointing at the night sky, as _something _darted through it!

Then a familiar, low rumbling growl sounded in the distance.

"Appa!!" Aang screamed in delight, greeting his safely recovered air bison with a sweet embrace. "I missed you, buddy!"

Then he turned to Appa's passenger, who had reunited him with the great beast.

"You brought Appa back!! I'm so happy I could kiss you!" exclaimed the delirious air bending Monk, though he kept a chaste distance from the Air Guardian, who giggled nervously.

"I think we're all feeling the love now, Aang! Right, Katara?" Sokka said, elbowing his slightly stunned sister.

"What? Oh. Yes. Of course! Thank you so much for bringing Appa back!" Katara added, finally finding her voice.

"We were starting to get worried!" Irma commented. "How'd you find him, Hay Hay?"

"Yeah, and how did you get him away from those sand benders?" Toph wanted to know.

"It wasn't easy!" Hay Lin said with a smile. "Appa's pretty big, so I thought I'd try using sonar to find him."

"Sonar?" Aang asked.

"Bouncing sound off of objects. I screamed as loud as I could, except I used an animal call so I wouldn't give myself away, and if the sound echoed back I knew I hit something!" the Guardian of Air explained. "With my air powers, I'm sensitive to sound traveling through the air, so I thought I'd use that in a different way, and it worked! Sort of, anyway!"

"Sort of??" Katara wondered.

"The first thing I found wasn't Appa! It was this mound full of big flying bugs! I'm talking HUGE!" Hay Lin demonstrated, holding her hands far apart. "And they were mean! They attacked me! Dozens of them!"

"So what'd you do then??" Sokka said, listening to Hay Lin's story with rapt attention.

"I buried myself in the sand to escape them, then took off when the coast was clear!" Hay Lin continued. "My 'sonar' finally found Appa, so I turned invisible and untied all the ropes holding him down. Appa was great! He didn't make a sound the whole time!"

Appa purred at the praise. He liked this curious air bender from a far away land. Being around another air elemental reminded the great beast of his Air Temple home, and made him feel secure. (And when Appa felt better, so did Aang).

Then Hay Lin's words grew darker. "But one of the guards noticed the rope untying, and raised the alarm!"

"Oh no!" Aang cringed. "Then what happened??"

"I thought I'd have to fight them all off!" storyteller Hay Lin recounted. "Then, from out of nowhere the giant flying insects flew into the sand benders' camp! They must have followed my animal call. The bugs were all over those guys! It was pretty brutal! In the confusion, me and Appa took off! But I felt kind of bad for the sand men, so I generated a big wind and blew the bugs out of the sky! The sand benders and the wasps didn't chase me after that."

"Wow!! Cool!" Irma cheered.

_Flashback_

_Upon seeing a robed person display air powers, plus Appa's ability to negate gravity, one older sand bender had choice words for a younger desert denizen. _

_"A, a wind?? Air bending?! And a flying bison?!" the older man exclaimed. "Ghashiun, you stole the Avatar's air bison?!_

_"I'm sorry, Uncle!! I didn't know it was his! I thought it was a stray!" the young, guilty as hell Ghashiun claimed, lying through to his teeth to his respected relative._

_"Save your excuses for your father!" Uncle scolded. "You dishonor us all! Offending an Avatar means 100 years bad luck for our tribe!" added the sand bender who, like most of his kind, was very superstitious._

_End Flashback_

Irma, feeling playful, leaned in towards Aang and told him, in a voice loud enough for everyone else to hear, "How about that Hay Lin, eh? Brains, bravery AND good looks! What a deal, huh, Aang?"

"Irma! Cut it out!" the Air Guardian blushed at her friend's teasing. And Aang's cheeks were even redder!

"Hey, look!" Sokka said, pointing to a plant. "A cactus! And that means cactus juice!"

ooooooooooooo

The Heart of Candracar-powered Prince of the Fire Nation called for an assembly in the royal plaza outside the Fire Lord's Palace.

Everyone was there. The people of the capital. The nobles. The merchants. The generals of the Army and the admirals of the Navy.

Then Zuko, standing at the top of the Palace stairway, placed the crown upon his head and proclaimed himself Fire Lord.

The crowd, heeding years of indoctrination, did what was expected of them and hailed the new Fire Lord. But it was passionless applause.

"And for my first official act..." Fire Lord Zuko announced, "...I hereby proclaim the war is over!"

The shocked populace went silent. War was all they had known for years!

When they at last found their voices, a few people rejoiced. Then more and more.

Finally, the whole crowd lustily cheered their new Fire Lord!

Zuko stood there, basking in the adulation.

Meanwhile, the two responsible for his new position hung in the background. If they had an opinion on what was happening, they kept it to themselves.

ooooooooooooo

As Aang & company made their way to the great city of Ba Sing Se, they were delayed by, among other things, a sea serpent and their friend Sokka's sickness.

"Suki! Hi!" an ecstatic, light-headed Sokka greeted the girl he had a crush on at the ferry port.

The boy's nervousness at seeing his old flame, combined with his queasy stomach, caused him to get violently ill. Sokka ralphed all over Suki!

Finally, after that messy tribulation (among others), they approached the bustling metropolis of the vast Earth Kingdom.

Flying over the plains outside of Ba Sing Se, Katara was the first to notice a very strange sight: A gargantuan machine, lying in the dirt, with no one around it.

Totally abandoned.

"What do you think that is?" the water bender asked the Water Guardian from another world.

"I don't know. It looks like some kind of machinery, but I'm not exactly a gearhead." Irma answered.

"It's obviously Fire Nation!" Sokka declared. "Suki said there's been a lot of enemy activity in the area in the past few days!"

"Suki said? You mean she's still talking to you after you...shared your meal with her? Last night's meal, that is!" Katara giggled.

"Yeah, laugh it up, Katara! Suki knows I was sick! She's mature, unlike some people!" Sokka said in a huff.

"Sokka, we told you not to drink that cactus juice!" Katara teased her brother.

"So I like trying new things! In most places, that's a mark of a progressive person! Right, Hay Lin?" the Water Tribe boy sought the support of the Air Guardian from Heatherfield.

Hay Lin wasn't sure how to respond. "Ummm..." she uttered.

"Forget all that!" Aang announced. "There it is! Ba Sing Se!"

"Wow!" Look at that wall! It reminds me of the Great Wall of China back home!" Hay Lin chirped.

"That wall has protected Ba Sing Se for hundreds of years! No one has ever invaded Ba Sing Se, not even the Fire Nation!" Aang bragged.

"Except Taranee!" Irma wisecracked to her fellow Guardian, Hay Lin.

"Shh!" Hay Lin shushed her friend. "Keep that to yourself." The Keeper of Air didn't want to antagonize their new companions. Or remind anyone in Ba Sing Se they were associates of the wrongly accused 'criminals', Will and Taranee.

"Which is why we're going to them with our plan to invade the Fire Nation." Katara added, continuing Aang's conversation. "Only the Earth King has the resources to pull it off! Just think...Soon, we'll rescue Will, Taranee and Cornelia, Aang will defeat the Fire Lord, and the war will be over!" she dreamed.

"Ah, about that wall protecting the city...If they're so hot about defending it, why aren't there any guards on it?" Irma asked as Appa sailed over the empty outer wall.

"Yeah. That...That is weird!" Aang said nervously. Then he motioned toward the inner wall, beyond which lay the city and its vast populace. "Hold on. Do you hear that?"

"It sounds like..." Hay Lin said, focusing on her ability to hear sounds from a distance. "Like a lot of people yelling!!"

"I've got a bad feeling about this! Appa! Yip yip!" Aang spurred the air bison to greater speed.

Within moments, they were flying over the inner wall, where the captain of the guard flagged them down.

"Avatar! Spirits be praised! Truly, this is our lucky day!" he exclaimed.

"Captain, what's going on? Where's the rest of your guard??" Aang asked, shouts and explosions echoing off of the great city's walls..

"They're on crowd control in the Lower Ring of the city." the Captain calmly explained, a smile on his face. "See the Earth King. He'll tell you all you need to know!"

Alighting outside of the Earth King's palace, Aang and the rest were ushered into his throne room.

"Avatar! A pleasant surprise, indeed! And what a way to mark such an auspicious occasion!" the Earth King proclaimed.

"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty!" Aang said, bowing in respect. "I bring you important news! The secret to defeating your enemy, the Fire Nation, and ending this terrible, 100 year war!" he added, getting right to the point.

"Really? That's curious." the bemused Earth monarch said. "Since I only learned of this war a couple of days ago, now that it's over!"

"What?!" Aang gasped, the others joining him in shocked surprise.

"Yes. The people have been celebrating the end of the war for a few days now. It's been difficult to avoid. Even for someone like me, who has never been beyond the walls of my palace." the Earth King who was born as Kuei said. Then he turned to his long-time aide at his side and added "By the way, Long Feng, your services are no longer required!"

"What?? But, Great King, I have always endeavored in the utmost to serve you and the Kingdom!" Long Feng said in his defense.

"And yet you saw fit to not inform me of such important matters as war??" a visibly irked Earth King spouted.

"I was protecting you, Your Majesty!" the devious leader of the Dai Li claimed. "And the people of Ba Sing Se, providing them a safe haven from the war!"

"You similarly misinformed me about the fire, as I recall. Enough of your self-serving justifications! Begone before I have my guards clap you in chains!" the unusually forceful King exclaimed. "I will make a decision on your Dai Li ere long, but for now you are banished from the city of Ba Sing Se!" he commanded.

As the dismissed Long Feng walked out of the royal palace, defiance and anger marked his features.

"That guy's bad news!" Toph, who could sense a person's vibrations through the earth and ascertain their truthfulness, quietly said to Aang. "He was lying about protecting the Earth King!"

The former leader of the Dai Li, and the power behind the throne, glared at Aang and his companions as he passed them.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish!" Irma commented to Hay Lin. "That was the guy who gave Will such a hard time!"

"Really?" Hay Lin retorted. "Yeah, he does look pretty mean! I'm glad he's gone!"

"I am sorry you had to see that, Avatar." the contrite King said. "It's a terrible thing when you can not trust those closest to you."

"That's okay, sir." Aang replied. "But what is this about the war being over?"

"Yes. Word has reached us that the ruler of the Fire Nation ordered a halt to the war and recalled all of his forces from the Earth Kingdom." the Earth King elaborated.

"What?! Fire Lord Ozai would never do that!!" Aang said, raising his voice, but not so loud as to offend royalty.

"Fire Lord Ozai??" said the puzzled Earth monarch. "No, the name of the Fire Lord is Zuko."

"Zuko?!" spat Katara. "But he, he was banished by his father, Fire Lord Ozai, and ordered not to return unless he had the Avatar!"

"Really? Then he has apparently settled his affairs with this Ozai and succeeded him." the Earth King commented. "Oh. One other thing, which sounded odd when I heard it. It's said two strange girls, a plant bender and a flying fire bender, assist Zuko."

ooooooooooooo

In the Fire Nation, after Fire Lord Zuko's announcement of the end of the long war, he leaned over to his 'assistants', the glum Earth Guardian and Fire Guardian, and happily told them "You should be proud! You've done what no one has been able to do in a hundred years, something even the Avatar couldn't do - you defeated the Fire Lord and ended the war!"

Cornelia (who had re-grown to her Guardian size) and Taranee knew it was a good thing. But they couldn't help but think of their friends, and when (or _if _) they would ever see them again.

Zuko next publicly thanked the two far from home Guardians, who flanked the newly christened Fire Lord. Then he raised their hands in victory.

The cheers of the crowd rose to ear-deafening decibels. The people clearly loved their new leader and his special bending advisors.

ooooooooooooo

Sometime later, after much feasting by all concerned (especially Irma! The Earth Kingdom food prepared by the King's chefs was really starting to grow on her!), the Avatar and his crew took their leave.

From a variety of sources, be it secret intelligence files, the mail service, or even word of mouth, each member of the group discovered they had somewhere to go.

Aang became aware of a Guru at the Eastern Air Temple who could help him master the Avatar State.

Sokka and Katara learned their father's Water Tribe warriors were in Chameleon Bay.

Toph got a letter from her parents, who were in Ba Sing Se and wanted to see her.

And Irma and Hay Lin found out where Cornelia and Taranee were - in the Fire Lord's palace!

After they had all left, the Earth King was visited by a frantic, breathless messenger who delivered most distressing news.

"Oh dear." said the Earth monarch, upon reading the scroll handed to him by the panting messenger boy. "This is serious!"

Meanwhile, in a gleaming fortress floating in the sky, a middle-aged man with naught on his head but an odd symbol contemplated the mysterious workings of fate, the weight of the universe pressing deeply upon his brow. Events had caused him great concern. But not as great as the male who stood next to him. The young man, not much older than a boy, chronologically, but with more experience than those three times his age, was very much upset and verbally accosted his elder.

_Next:_

_With peace finally at hand and a golden age a-borning,_

_will a new war break out?_

_Or can the Avatar stop it?_

_Also:_

_Taranee & Cornelia vs. Combustion Man!_

_The Rough Rhinos attack! (And sing!)_

_Find out what happened to Azula & Ozai!_

_And the most requested W.I.T.C.H. cast member enters the story! (As well as the Avatar's world!)_

Notes

The timeline is a little different from the _Avatar _TV series. Aang & Co. visit Wan Shi Tong's Spirit Library earlier than in the normal continuity, so Appa's kidnappers aren't able to sell him to the Ba Sing Se merchants right away, which is why the sand benders are still holding the air bison when Hay Lin finds their camp.

In the TV Show, Hay Lin can hear sounds, noises and voices from great distances, presumably because sound vibrations travel through her element of air.

Taranee invaded Ba Sing Se to rescue Will from the clutches of Long Feng and the Dai Li in _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar, _Chapter 12.

The abandoned machine was the Drill.

There was a lot of enemy activity near where Suki was stationed, the hidden port of Full Moon Bay, because the Fire Army was pulling out. However, Suki didn't know that because the people at the port avoid encountering the Fire Nation forces, lest they find the ferry route to Ba Sing Se.

Whereas _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar _was based on Season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this story is based on Season 3. So look for the Day of Black Sun and the return of Sozin's Comet to be pivotal events. I can't tell you everything that's going to happen. But it's GOOD!


	3. Things Get Worse An Unexpected Find

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Chapter 3: Things Get Worse / An Unexpected Find

One day, in the Royal Gardens of the Palace of the Fire Lord...

"That's it, Guang! You're doing it!" the blonde teen encouraged the giddy young boy floating in the air. "You're air bending!"

"Wheeee!" the boy screamed in joy.

"Look at me, Cornelia-san!" Hoshi exulted, as rocks from the garden danced in front of the enthusiastic girl. "I'm earth bending!"

"And I'm a water bender!" the excited Ren called out, water flowing from one side of the Fire Nation tween to the other side.

"Wow! You're all doing such a great job!" Cornelia clapped. "Almost like real benders! But I think that's enough for today." she informed the kids, and promptly 'turned off' their bending ability.

"Awwww!" Ren whined.

"Can't we do some more, Cornelia-san?" Hoshi meekly asked.

Guang, though, didn't bother to request permission, and jumped into the air.

Then just as quickly fell in the flowerbed.

"Later, Hoshi!" the Earth Guardian told the Fire Nation girl, as she helped the rambunctious Guang up and dusted him off. "I'm a...little busy now."

"It's him!" Ren whispered to Hoshi, pointing to the man partially hidden in the shadows of the Garden.

"Thank you, Cornelia-san!" Guang said, bowing. "My mom says you're strange. But I don't think so!"

"Why, thank you, Guang!" Cornelia smiled, and returned a polite bow. "I like you, too! Now run along, alright?"

Once the children had left, the man advanced out of the shadows and approached Cornelia, who ignored him. She busied herself tending to the plants in the garden.

"I really must thank you. In all my years here, I have never seen the Royal Gardens look lovelier! And it's wonderful what you're doing with the children! They need to learn about people from other lands! But how did you do that trick with the water? I know you can move things with your mind, but I didn't know you can bend water!" the young man inquired, making conversation.

"I can't bend water. The water was in a clear plastic bag, and I moved that." Cornelia politely replied, as she continued her plant work. She didn't bother to look up or face her guest.

"Plastic? What type of earth is that??" the royal asked.

"It's...Never mind!" said the annoyed Corny, who didn't want to be bothered to explain the origin of plastic bags, or how she and a couple of the other Guardians brought some with them from their world. "Why are you here, Zuko? And don't tell me it's to praise my gardening skills, or how I entertain children!" the Guardian of Earth snapped, finally facing her tormentor.

"No. I...I'm sorry, Cornelia. I know this is hard for you." Fire Lord Zuko apologized.

"Not as hard as it is for Will!" spat Cornelia, mentioning her friend who was still being held hostage by the new Fire Lord. "Why can't Taranee and I see her?!" she angrily requested.

"I've shown your friend to you! See?" Zuko answered the irate Guardian, displaying the crystal Heart of Candracar in which an image of the missing Will Vandom appeared.

"I mean in person!" Cornelia demanded.

"That's...problematic. I can't risk you freeing her and then leaving." Zuko replied.

"We've done everything you asked us to do! We beat Fire Lord Ozai and gave the crown to you! Why do you still need us??" Cornelia grilled the Fire Lord.

"My nation...is fragile. Even the peace we've achieved could be gone tomorrow!" Fire Lord Zuko soliloquized. "My homeland suffered so much over the last 100 years of war, in ways I didn't even realize until I journeyed the world. But now, thanks to you and your friend, the healing has begun! Taranee has come up with ways to reduce the, what did she call it? Pollution, from the factories. And your work to re-plant the forests and natural areas of the Nation is paying off, too! The Fire Sages tell me they think the country's land, air and water will soon be pristine enough for the dragons who used to fly our skies! Think about that! The dragons could return!"

"Yeah, that...Sounds great." Cornelia dryly responded.

"But the darkness could return, too. There are many who don't like the new ways, many who made a living off my peoples' pain. And I have other reasons for what I'm doing, reasons I can't talk about as it pertains to the security of the Fire Nation." Zuko continued. "After so many years of hardship and violence, the world stands at the brink of a new age of peace and prosperity! It fills me with hope. Hope I haven't felt since I was a young boy, and my mother..." Zuko then turned from the earth-powered girl, hiding his emotional reaction. "I'm truly sorry for what I have to put you through but, if I'm not careful, everything we've achieved could be wiped away! I can't let anything jeopardize that! I need your help, Cornelia! If there was any other way...Sorry. I won't bother you anymore. I know you must hate me. You can see Shen for your list of daily duties from now on. " the contrite teen added, as he walked away from the girl of another world who had promised to serve him.

"Zuko, wait!" Cornelia called after the young Fire Lord. "I don't hate you. But..."

"I know. Fortunately, it won't be for too much longer." Zuko assured the young Guardian, then put his hands on her shoulders and said "Trust me, and I promise you, you'll be reunited with your friends, my nation will be saved, and everyone will get what they want! This story has a happy ending! I swear it!"

Cornelia, who had always loved fairy tales as a child but knew, as she approached adulthood, the fantasy rarely matched the reality, thought about it for a second, then looked at Zuko and said "Yeah. Okay. For now."

"Thank you!" the former Prince beamed. "You won't regret it!"

She wanted to believe him. Really, she did.

After Zuko exited the garden, another figure popped up.

Taranee!

"Just caught the tail end of that. What's going on between you and Zuko?" she curiously asked her friend, and fellow captive.

"Nothing is 'going on', Taranee!" Cornelia said, rejecting the insinuation. "Zuko's just trying to prove he's a nice guy, what with him kidnapping Will and making us work for him and everything!"

"Oh. I see. Stockholm Syndrome." the brainy Taranee commented.

"What?" asked Cornelia.

"Many captives identify with their captors. It's a basic survival mechanism." the Fire Guardian explained.

"What's that, psychology? This isn't about science, or something you can learn in a book!" scoffed Cornelia. "This is about understanding people!"

"And you 'understand' Zuko, is that it?" the skeptical Taranee questioned.

"Somewhat. Did you know he lost his mother? It explains a lot!" Cornelia added.

"I can't believe you're falling for his sob story!" the Guardian of Fire replied.

"I'm not! But it's important to know the enemy, Taranee! He's only doing what he feels he has to. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, but doesn't see any other way to accomplish his goals!" Cornelia pressed her case.

"Oh, so imprisoning Will and forcing us to work for him is okay, is that it? I'm sure Will, Irma and Hay Lin would love to hear that!" the miffed Taranee barked.

"How dare you, Taranee Cook! How dare you say I don't care about our friends! Everything I've done was to protect them!!" an enraged Cornelia shot back.

"I just...Forget it! I have to help Zuko on a new project. See you later." the Fire Guardian coolly stated while exiting the Royal Gardens.

"Taranee, wait...I..." the apologetic Cornelia Hale sputtered.

But it was too late. Taranee was already gone.

_Dammit! Will I lose the only friend I have left? _Cornelia tortured herself with her thoughts.

And all around her, plants withered and died, reflecting the Earth Guardian's emotional state.

ooooooooooooooo

"Dad!!" Sokka screamed in glee upon seeing his father and the other members of his South Pole Water Tribe on the beach of Chameleon Bay. The young warrior jumped off of Appa's back and sprinted towards his sire.

"Sokka! It's so good to see you!" Hakoda greeted his only son. "Look at how you've grown! Bato told me how you traveled with the Avatar! I'm so proud of you! But...where's your sister?" he said, surveying the scene.

"Hi, dad." Katara meekly welcomed her father. Her eyes fluttered nervously.

"Katara!" the Chief of the Water Tribe hugged his daughter. "Oh, how I've missed all of you! Now that the war's over, we can go home and be a family again!"

Tears of joy flowed from the water bender's eyes. It was all she ever wanted!

"Won't Gran-Gran be surprised to see all of us sail into the village!" the happy Sokka speculated.

"Hello, sir! It's good to meet you!" Aang addressed the leader of the Water Tribe, father to his two longtime traveling companions.

"And you must be the Avatar! A pleasure to meet you, son!" Hakoda hailed the last air bender. "So, you finally took care of the Fire Lord, eh?"

"Actually, that wasn't me. It was..." Aang answered, slightly embarrassed.

"Hold on! Who are your friends?" Hakoda said upon spotting the two girls on Appa.

"Oh, that's Hay Lin and Irma. They've been traveling with us lately." Aang informed the Chief. As he introduced them, the two girls waved hi. "Right now, they're looking for a ride west. I'm going east, see, so I can't take them, and we were kind of hoping you could, ah..." Aang added, not wishing to impose.

"Of course we'll take them with us! Any friends of my children are welcome on my ships!" Hakoda gladly offered.

Irma and Hay Lin leapt off the air bison and walked to the Water Tribe watercraft. Irma had but one question.

"So, uh, what kind of grub do you have on these boats?" Irma wondered, the memory of Ba Sing Se's delicacies fresh in her mind.

"Grub? Aren't those insects?" Bato questioned.

"Ah, I mean food!" Irma corrected.

"Huh. Earth Kingdom slang." Bato commented. "We have fish."

"And?" Irma wanted to know more.

"More fish." Bato answered.

"Oh, I see. Both kinds of food!" Irma insincerely cheered. "Great."

"But you can eat the bait, if you really love grubs so much." Bato offered.

"That's okay." Irma said, getting queasy. "Urp!" she said, suppressing the urge to vomit.

Just then, a messenger raced into the Bay.

"Avatar! A message from the Earth King!" the wheezing messenger gasped, shoving the scroll into Aang's hands.

"Oh no!" Aang yelled.

"What is it, Aang? What does it say??" Katara anxiously inquired.

"It says..." Aang began. "It says the Earth King wants to see me because the Fire Nation has invaded the Earth Kingdom again! The war is back on!"

"No!" a shocked Hay Lin exclaimed.

"Oh. No." Katara said, horrified at the prospect of more war.

"Now?? They do this now?!" Sokka bitched at the terrible timing of it all.

"I have to go back, Katara, but there's no reason you and Sokka have to go with me!" Aang told the girl he loved, his heart breaking just a little bit. "You should go home with your father."

"Yeah, Katara!" Irma agreed. "We'll go with Aang! Me and Hay Lin will take good care of him! You two should be with your family!"

"Sokka and I appreciate what you're saying." Katara warmly said. Katara, who placed others' happiness before her own. "But if there is a new war, you're going to need all the help you can get!"

"And if there is a new war, we won't be going home anytime soon!" Hakoda pointed out.

"You're right, dad! Katara." the dutiful Sokka grimly concurred. "Let's go, Aang! We have a war to stop!" Then he turned to his father. "See you later, dad!"

"See you later, s-...warrior!" Hakoda sadly, but proudly, waved goodbye.

(And so the Wheel of Destiny spun ever on. Oh, Sokka! If only you had gone home!)

Once back in Ba Sing Se, the GAang checked their old apartment to see Toph, but she wasn't there. And, according to her neighbors, hadn't been in quite some time!

"Oh no. I have a bad feeling about this!" Aang depressingly noted.

"Don't worry, Aang! I'm sure Toph is okay!" Katara said, hoping to ease the Avatar's mind. "She is pretty tough!"

Their reverie was interrupted by footsteps outside the door of the apartment.

"It's him!" Sokka whispered.

"Him who?" Katara whispered back.

"The person who took Toph! The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime!" detective Sokka stated, boomerang in hand, ready to throw it at the person who walked through the door.

Then the door slammed open!

"What are you guys doing here??" the barefoot Toph yelled. "I thought you left?"

"Toph! We were so worried! We thought something happened to you!!" Katara revealed.

"What a relief! So how were your parents?" Hay Lin asked.

"My parents were never here!" Toph admitted. "It was two idiots my parents hired to kidnap me and take me back home!"

"Oh, Toph!" Katara consoled the blind earth bender. "I'm so sorry!"

"What happened, Toph?" Aang sensitively inquired.

"They tried to trap me in a metal box, but I got out! I can bend metal now! I'm the greatest earth bender ever!" Toph exulted in her new-found abilities.

"Except you can't bend sand." the caustic Irma Lair noted, remembering recent events (and possibly sticking up for her lost friend, Cornelia the Earth Guardian, although technically she wasn't an earth bender?)

"What? What was that?" Toph grumbled at the insult.

"I'm just saying, if it wasn't for Hay Lin, we would still be in that hellish desert, because you're not the greatest earth bender ever, since you can't even bend itty bitty grains of sand!" Irma laid it all on the line.

"Why, you...!" the girl who really _was _the greatest earth bender ever raged! Toph assumed an earth bending stance, prepared to strike at the Guardian of Water.

"Guys! Stop fighting! We have more important things to do!" Aang the peacemaker rushed in, separating the two combatants.

"Like, stopping a war?" Katara pointed out.

"Huh? Come again?" the puzzled Toph asked.

oooooooooooooooo

Cornelia, seeking her friend Taranee to apologize for her angry outburst earlier, walked into the middle of an odd sight: The Fire Guardian laying her hands on a very large man trussed up like Hannibal Lechter! Multiple straps bound him securely to a gurney. The huge dude appeared to be unconscious.

"Taranee, what?" Cornelia reflexively uttered.

"Huh? Cornelia??" the distracted Taranee spun her head 'round at the sound of her friend's voice.

Then the man tied to the gurney opened his eyes and hurled his head forward, his skull striking the Guardian of Fire's unprotected temple!

Woozy from the blow, Taranee backed away.

Then the prisoner flexed his muscles, snapped his bonds, inhaled and...looked at the blonde earth elemental!

Instantly, the wall behind Cornelia exploded!

"Ahhh!" she screamed, and fell to the floor, covering her head at the same time to protect her from the shrapnel!

The giant of a man (with a metal leg!) then grabbed Taranee by the neck, and began choking the life from her!

Cornelia, heedless of the danger to herself, wasn't about to let that happen! She telekinetically grabbed a large piece of the destroyed wall and flung it at the man mountain!

The rubble bounced harmlessly off the muscled physique of the weird fire bender!

But Corny got his attention!

Unfortunately for her.

The Fire Nation colossus dropped the unmoving Taranee to the ground and advanced on the young Guardian of Earth, his metal leg clanking noisily on the stone surface.

Immediately, Cornelia summoned thick vines from the soil under the floor to entangle and halt the hundreds of pounds of fire bending muscle!

He strained against the clutching, matted greenery and, when that was unsuccessful, focused his power to blow up more of the room!

While Cornelia ran for cover, the injured Taranee found her voice. "His, his eyes! Cover his eyes! All three of them!" she wheezed.

"What??" The Keeper of the Earth thought she heard wrong. Three eyes?? Then she decided it didn't matter, and commanded the vines to cover the fire bender's face and head!

Corny and Tara then relaxed a bit. They thought the fight over.

But the overly muscled goon won his battle against the plants! He snapped them like twigs!

Pulling the vines from his eyes, he faced his opponents once more.

Taranee, hovering above what remained of the room, called forth a line of fire to prevent the bizarre 'bomb bender' from physically attacking Cornelia.

Cornelia, though, was unsure how they could prevail over a circus strongman who blew things up just by looking at them!

The giant considered his next move. He was about to continue the fight when...

He was encircled by coils of energy! Unbreakable bands of unearthly power that covered his eyes, including the third eye on his forehead, and held him fast!

"Are you okay, Cornelia?" the young Fire Lord called out to the battered Earth Guardian as Fire Nation guards surrounded the trapped, rogue fire bender.

"I'm...fine." she hesitantly told the one who seemed oddly concerned for her welfare. Concerned because he didn't want to lose an 'assistant'? Or was it something more?

"What do you think you're doing?!" Zuko angrily scolded the Fire Guardian. "It was a simple procedure!"

"There was an accident, okay? And I was handling it! I was about to 'turn him off'!" the fiery Taranee Cook defended herself.

"Really? Before or after he destroyed the Palace?" the sarcastic Zuko zinged back.

"He was supposed to be unconscious!" Taranee railed.

"Well, he's secure now, so get to it!" the Fire Lord commanded the passionate Guardian of Fire.

"Hmphh!" Taranee bristled at being ordered about, but did as she was told.

"What's going on, Zuko?" Cornelia asked the Fire Lord teen as Taranee again placed her hands on the restrained fire bender with the exploding eyes. "Who is this guy?"

"They call him Combustion Man. He's the most dangerous fire bender alive!" Zuko informed the teen earth elemental. "I ordered any who threaten the peace and safety of the people to be detained. My soldiers got lucky when they found him passed out in a bar. Since then, we've kept him sedated, under the influence of papaver seeds, but they must have worn off!"

"You drugged him??" Cornelia said with a bit of shock.

"Um-hmm." Zuko confirmed. "But, as you can see, that's hardly a viable long-term strategy. I'm just glad you're, I mean both of you, are okay." he sighed. "Anyway, I figured that, if Taranee can shut off fire bending temporarily, maybe she can do it permanently? If she can, we'll have a great way of eliminating one of my nation's very serious problems!" he hoped.

"It's not working!" Taranee, standing over the bound Combustion Man, gloomily announced. "I did turn his fire bending power off, but I can still feel it inside him!"

"Maybe you need a boost?" the Heart-enhanced Fire Lord speculated. Then he shone the light of the Heart of Candracar on the Guardian of Fire. Taranee bathed in the power of the Heart, then turned its full force on her objective - to take away Combustion Man's fire bending forever!

The combustible hulk felt his abilities being drained away! He desperately strained at his energy bonds! He kicked his legs, thrashed and rocked his body, shook his head violently...Then just as abruptly stopped.

His binocular eyes rolled back up into his head. His third eye closed. It was over.

"It's, it's done!" Taranee gasped. "We did it!"

As the two Guardians and Zuko celebrated, the Fire Nation guards escorted the powerless, Combustionless Man out of the Palace, to live a life free of fire bending.

A life in which his chi, his very soul, was forever shut off from the ability to channel the element of fire, no matter how much he studied and trained.

Meanwhile, the celebration inside the Palace was cut short by the arrival of a messenger.

"Damn! This is what I was afraid of!" Zuko said after reading the courier's scroll.

"What is it? What's wrong??" Cornelia worriedly asked.

"Some Earth Kingdom generals saw my declaration of the end of the war as a sign of the Fire Nation's weakness! They were riling their people up, making noises about invading the Colonies to 'liberate their territories', as they put it, so I sent a defense force to protect our interests. I hoped that would dissaude the fools, but now they've gone and attacked the Colonies! My people will insist I retaliate in order to protect our honor. If I don't, I'll lose their support! It looks like the war is on again. I'm sorry, girls. All that hard work, for nothing!" Zuko said, throwing the scroll in a nearby fireplace in disgust.

"But don't you have diplomats, someone who can talk to these generals and work out a peace treaty?" Taranee reasoned.

"They won't listen! That would be further evidence of our nation's 'weakness'. It would only embolden them!" the Fire Lord angrily analyzed the situation.

"Hold on a second! There's one person they'll listen to!" Cornelia interjected.

"What?!" Zuko bleated. "Who??"

"The Avatar!"

oooooooooooooooo

June 21st, Omashu Peace Conference - close to the middle of the day:

After the Fire Nation ships docked at the port for the recently freed and rebuilt Earth Kingdom city of Omashu (formerly New Ozai), the peace delegation emerged and was met by King Bumi and his honor guard.

"Thank you for personally heading up your delegation, Fire Lord Zuko. It should make a peace deal a lot easier!" the wise old King said. "I know it must be difficult traveling to a land where most people would rather see you dead!"

"I only want to see this madness of war end! And you're an honorable man, King Bumi, so I don't fear for my safety." Zuko replied.

"Well, I hope we have time to go on a tour of my fair city. It's especially delightful by earth car! You can ask the Avatar if you don't believe me!" the wacky Bumi commented, referring to the city's transport system that he and Aang used for joyrides.

"Yes, ah, I'll have to do that." the bemused Zuko politely responded.

On the way to the peace conference, Bumi and Zuko were met by the sponsor of the diplomatic event.

"Hello, Aang!" King Bumi warmly greeted his old friend.

"Hi, Bumi!" Aang smiled broadly. Then he faced the Fire Lord and his expression changed. His smile was a pale shadow of its former self. "Hello, Zuko."

"Avatar." the leader of the Fire Nation coolly replied.

Then Aang remembered his misson and put away any personal feelings he may have had about the man who doggedly hunted him for six months, chasing him halfway around the world .

"Thank you for attending the peace conference, Fire Lord Zuko!" the diplomatic Avatar sincerely said, bowing as demanded by protocol. "It is my fervent wish we resolve any disputes among the Nations and ensure the peace of the world for a long time to come!"

"Yes. Thank you, Avatar, for sponsoring this conference. It is my dream to see all the world live in peace and freedom." Zuko stated.

"I don't suppose you can start that 'peace and freedom' kick you're on with Will, Cornelia and Taranee?" the brazen Guardian of Water, who had joined the group on their walk to the conference site along with the other members of the GAang, sarcastically and very undiplomatically snapped at the Fire Lord. "Why aren't they here??" she forcefully inquired.

"They...had important duties to attend to in the Fire Nation." Zuko informed the Water Guardian, controlling his anger at her impertinence. Due to their previous encounters, Zuko and Irma did not like each other in the slightest! "There was a large forest fire near a populated area, so they were needed to assist in rescue and recovery." he elaborated.

"Really?? How con-veni-ent!" Irma's words poked at Zuko's thin skin of civility.

"Irma!" Aang begged the Guardian to still her rage, before she incited another war! "Fire Lord Zuko is here on a mission of peace! Show him the proper respect!"

"That's fine, but if Zuko believes in peace so much, why did he kidnap them??" Irma continued her rant.

"Irma, this isn't the time or place." Aang pointed out.

"No, it's okay, Avatar Aang." Zuko motioned with his hand to halt the Avatar's protest. Then he addressed Irma Lair directly. "I did what I had to do. I needed your friends to end the war. Their participation was crucial!" Zuko argued.

"If you needed our help so bad, why didn't you just ask for it?" Irma shot back.

Zuko bristled at the accusatory tone of the young water-powered girl.

"Tell me, 'Guardian'…If I had asked for your help, would you have provided it?" the Fire Lord challenged.

"Well, if you hadn't attacked us that one time, then maybe…" Irma, surprised to find herself unable to answer the question, hesitantly said.

"You mean when your group attacked me, don't you?" Zuko corrected her.

"Wait. We attacked you??" the confused Irma replied. She had entered the fight against Zuko in Avatar Town a bit late, and assumed he was the aggressor.

"Yes. After he terrorized Avatar Town!" a fired up Hay Lin pointed out. She considered the people of Avatar town, who adored the Air Guardian, as dear to her as her close, personal friends.

"I was looking for the Avatar at the time. In Avatar Town. And they weren't being very helpful, so we came into conflict. Go figure." Zuko snidely retorted. "The question remains the same: Would you have aided me if I had requested it?" he asked Irma.

"Well, I mean, I don't know!" Irma sputtered.

"I thought not." the Fire Lord ended the debate.

"Boy, when did Zuko get the slick tongue?" Sokka said in shocked admiration.

"He's going to need it, with this crowd!" Aang confided, as they all walked into the tented area set aside for the peace conference. The room was full of Earth Kingdom generals and officials who angrily glared at the new, but despised as ever, Fire Lord.

"It won't be easy, but you can do it, Aang!" Katara encouraged the last air bender.

"And it's still better than going to war!" Sokka commented. Then he caught the eye of a mean Earth Kingdom general, who bit into a piece of fruit like he was biting off Sokka's head. "I think!" the Water Tribe boy cringed.

Then, as Aang introduced the Earth Kingdom generals and diplomats to Fire Lord Zuko, Toph interrupted.

"Um, is there a race track nearby?" the girl inquired.

"Toph, what are you talking about??" Aang wondered.

The blind earth bender was sensitive to vibrations in the ground, so she felt it before anyone else. "There's something coming this way! Something big!" Toph shouted.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound surrounded the conference participants. A sound that grew louder and louder!

Confused, they stopped what they were doing and looked around.

Then a series of explosions rocked the area!

While some fled in terror, others stood their ground, on watch for the unseen enemy!

Without warning, a huge fire ball rocketed towards them!

Aang, using his air bending, easily deflected the vicious, cowardly attack!

Then Zuko jumped in front of the Avatar!

"Watch out!" he yelled, pushing Aang out of the way of deadly, flaming arrows aimed at the air bender's heart!

The Heart of Candracar-powered Fire Lord summoned an energy shield to protect him from the sinister shafts, but, in his haste, the energy spilled out and hit the main support for the tent! The tent collapsed, trapping all beneath its voluminous folds, leaving them at the mercy of their mysterious assailants!

But when the delegates crawled out of the tent, no one was there. The attackers had fled!

Then the real fight began!

"You see? He's trying to kill us all!" General Fong, head of the Earth Kingdom fortress that protected Omashu, screamed, pointing at the accused Fire Lord.

"Wait!" Aang implored, trying to forestall any rash action. "There's no proof that was a Fire Nation attack!"

But many disagreed. They pointed to the ball of fire and also...

"That rumbling sound...I'll never forget that sound! Not after what happened to my home!" another Earth Kingdom delegate passionately said. "It sounded like the stampede of the Rough Rhinos!"

Many were up in arms at the mention of the merciless raiders of the Fire Nation!

"The Rough Rhinos are exactly the kind of war criminals I'm imprisoning in the Fire Nation!" Zuko forcefully argued. "Those raiders are only interested in the spoils of war! They don't want peace, and they sure as hell don't want me as Fire Lord! If you'll notice, they did try to kill me, too!"

That halted the grumblings for immediate revenge on the Fire Lord, but the Earth Kingdomers were still very angry.

"He's right! You're all in the same situation!" Avatar Aang stepped in. "And you all want the same thing - peace!"

"Begging your pardon, Avatar, and I mean no offense, but is it possible your objectivity was compromised when the Fire Lord saved your skin, preventing you from seeing one very simple fact - that this was clearly an act of aggression?!" an Earth Kingdom representative boldly stated.

His fellow delegates pounded their feet on the ground in support of that view!

"What?? No! I can be objective!" Aang defended himself.

"Save your breath, Avatar!" Fire Lord Zuko declared. "Peace is hard work. Harder than war! And many just aren't interested. They only see the power and glory of war, and think they can be 'heroes' if they end a war by defeating one person! What a foolish notion!"

"But that's what Avatar Roku said, and he was no fool!" Sokka blurted out.

Zuko stopped. Turned slowly towards the Water Tribe teen, and said "What was that?"

"Er, nothing, Fire Lord Zuko, sir!" Katara exclaimed, hastily muzzling her big-mouthed brother.

"Wtgo Katr!" Sokka mumbled.

"A spirit of a dead Avatar told you something??" Zuko questioned the current Avatar. "What?!"

"Well, he told me a lot of things." Aang hemmed and hawwed, avoiding the issue. "Did you know Solstice is a good time for visiting Spirits?" Aang smiled insincerely.

"What did he say about the war?" Zuko demanded.

"He said..." Aang paused. The young Avatar knew how it would sound, but he had to tell the truth! "He said I had to defeat the Fire Lord to end the war." Aang bowed his head in shame.

"Oh, Aang!" Katara felt for the young air bender. Admitting that would only make his job harder!

Even the Earth Kingdom people in attendance were shocked!

"If even the Avatar doesn't believe in peace..." one of them voiced what many were thinking.

"So this is all a joke to you?!" Zuko raged at the boy Avatar. "Is this 'peace conference' an excuse for you to see old friends and have a good time?!"

"No! It's not like that!" Aang hastily denied. "And I'm pretty sure Avatar Roku was talking about Fire Lord Ozai! Not you!" Aang plead his case, but not very convincingly.

"This whole thing is a farce! Come on, men! We're going!" Fire Lord Zuko announced to his royal retinue. "If any of you really want peace, you know where to find me! And if you want war, expect a response three times greater than any attack launched against us!"

"Zuko, wait!" Aang begged. But the Fire Lord ignored his entreaties and marched out of the conference with his delegation.

However, a crowd of Earth Kingdom military blocked the Fire Nation contingent's exit. They formed a solid line that none could pass.

"You know what I'm thinking, men?" the Earth Kingdom General leading them bellowed. "Why wait for the Avatar to take down the Fire Lord, when we can do it right now?"

The Earth Army tensed, waiting for the order to strike.

The Fire Lord and his cohort assumed fire bending stances.

"Do you really want to challenge me here? And now?" Zuko dared.

It was June 21st (the Summer Solstice), at Midday (or High Noon) - When fire benders are at the height of their power.

The Earth Army General carefully considered his options.

Before the fuse of battle was lit, though, King Bumi intervened.

"What's the matter with you??" Bumi scolded the Earth Kingdom military. "We promised safe passage for the Fire Lord and his people! If we go back on our word, we'll lose our honor!!"

The Earth Kingdom warriors reluctantly parted, allowing Zuko and his men to pass silently out of the conference environs.

After he left, those remaining discussed the 'Zuko problem'.

"Zuko's nothing but trouble! I bet he was behind that attack!" the intensely skeptical Irma declared.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Aang argued. "Why would he go to all that trouble to end the war, only to start it up again?"

"Because people from the Fire Nation are crazy?" Toph suggested.

"No, Avatar Roku was Fire Nation, and he was a good person!" Aang debated the point.

"I don't know why, but Zuko's up to no good! I can tell!" the Water Guardian spoke from her heart.

Then the General from Ba Sing Se leaned towards the Avatar and laid out the best option available.

"Avatar Aang, if we're going to end this war with the least amount of casualties, we're going to need that secret of yours to defeat the Fire Nation." said General How.

"Yes. I suppose you do." Aang sighed, accepting the inevitable with a heavy heart.

oooooooooooooooo

Fire Princess Azula was away from the Fire Nation when Zuko took over. If she had been around, things might have happened much differently.

As it was, though, she returned to a vastly changed country. Azula was immediately seized and placed in the prison stockade. Zuko's sister, who often entertained the idea of succeeding her father, Ozai, was not worried at this show of power by her brother. She knew she had a base of support within the nobility and the ranks of the military that Zuko could not break, and publicly mocked his efforts to prove who was in charge. The devious Princess played along, biding her time until her associates freed her. She was certain Zuko couldn't keep her locked up for long.

However, Zuko knew that, and made plans of his own.

Later, in the middle of the night, Azula was roused by the coarse prison guards, who were amused to have a member of 'royalty' as their guest. They roughly chained the tired Princess' hands behind her back and clamped manacles on her ankles, laughing as they did so. The royal fire bender entertained dark dreams of revenge as her cruel keepers shoved her down a series of dark hallways to a small, dimly lit room, where awaited...

The Guardian of Fire!

What the otherworldly Guardian did to her left Azula in stunned silence. Her life would never again be the same.

For you see, while Zuko traveled to the Earth Kingdom on his mission of peace, the Fire Guardian instituted the Fire Lord's 'Great Reform' in the Fire Nation.

All those who posed a menace to the populace, or were deemed a danger to the stability of the Nation, or whose loyalties were questioned, were rounded up. Criminals. Dissidents. Admiral Zhao's brother, General Chin. And many, many more.

But rather than send all these wayward souls to prison, Fire Lord Zuko instead came up with a much more humane option. Utilizing Taranee's ability to control fire and stop fire benders from bending, Zuko temporarily 'super-charged' her with the power of the Heart of Candracar, granting the Fire Guardian the power to permanently remove fire bending from all those considered unworthy! Not only that, Taranee also acquired the ability to bestow fire bending onto favored individuals, like Fire Lord Zuko's cousin and trusted adviser, Shen Ming. In such a way, Zuko was able to both eliminate his enemies and build a power base that supported only him.

There was one special fire bender who Zuko didn't order the Fire Guardian to visit. But then, he didn't have to.

At his summer home on the beach of Ember Island, Ozai puttered around the mostly empty rooms, spending his time in aimless pursuits. What few servants he had scurried past him, performing their duties without ever making eye contact with the deposed ruler of the country, disgraced when he lost an Agni Kai to two girls who weren't even of the Fire Nation.

Lord Ozai, former _Fire Lord _Ozai, was a humbled, broken man.

oooooooooooooooo

In a hidden cove along the Earth Kingdom coast, a hooded man carrying a sack met another man riding a Komodo Rhino. The rhino rider had two feathers in his hair.

"You were supposed to attack the site of the conference before it began, Colonel Mongke! You almost ruined everything!" the hooded man criticized the leader of the Rough Rhinos.

"Couldn't be helped, sir. Without the Fire Nation Army to back us up, it's much harder to get around the Earth Kingdom! And there are bounty hunters everywhere!" Col. Mongke stressed.

"Not my problem. Here's your payment!" the hooded man threw the sack of gold at the mercenary raider in disgust. "But know this: You can never go back to Fire Nation territories!"

"Don't worry about that, what with the amount of money you're paying us, Lord Z-" Col. Mongke began, pawing through the riches that were now his.

"No names! I was never here!" the man in the hood said in an agitated voice.

"As you wish, your Lordship!" Col. Mongke grinned, threw the sack of money over his shoulder and rode away.

He was soon joined by four others on Rhinoback. And they began singing. In harmony.

Doo wop singing!

_Bomp Bomp Bomp_

_Bomp Bomp Bomp_

_Bomp Bomp Bomp_

_Dang Dang Dang_

_Ding Dong Ding _

_Blue Mooonnn _

_Blue Moon_

_Blue Moon_

_Dit Dit Dit Dit Dit_

_Blue Mooonnn _

_Blue Moon_

_Blue Moon_

_Dit Dit Dit Dit Dit_

_Bomp Bomp Bomp_

_Bomp Bomp Bomp_

_Bomp Bomp Bomp_

_Dang Dang Dang_

_Ding Dong Ding _

_Blue Mooonnn _

_Blue Moon_

_You saw me standing alone_

_Blue Moon_

_Without a dream in my heart_

_Blue Blue Blue Moon_

_Without a love of my own_

The hooded gentleman could only shake his head at the strange vagaries of fate that led him to this moment, to witness this bizarre sight.

oooooooooooooooo

Returning to his Palace, the Fire Lord collapsed, exhausted, on his throne, a cup of fire ale in his hand.

"So..." Taranee nervously inquired. "...How'd it go?"

Zuko stared at her in disbelief, a look that communicated the idea 'How can you even ask a question like that?'

"That bad, huh?" Cornelia sought confirmation of her fears.

"They believe all they have to do to end the war is best one man - me, the Fire Lord! They're insane!" Fire Lord Zuko erupted in frustrated anger, throwing the half-full cup against a wall, the splash of liquid painting it in muted tones.

"What?? That's crazy!" The logically-minded Fire Guardian could scarce believe her ears. How could a complicated, messy war, born of several disputes between peoples, be ended by defeating one person?! It didn't make any sense!

"It's true!" the Earth Guardian exclaimed. "I heard that a lot in the Earth Kingdom!"

"What's worse is, even the Avatar has fallen prey to this madness! He believes he is fated to face me in battle because some Avatar spirit told him it was his destiny!"

"What can we do?" the earth girl from Heatherfield asked.

"Prepare for the worst." Fire Lord Zuko told her.

oooooooooooooooo

After giving the Earth Kingdom generals the key to defeating the Fire Nation (the fact they lose their fire bending during an eclipse of the sun, and the date of the next solar event), Aang and company split up to gather allies for the planned invasion.

Aang and Katara flew north on Appa to visit friends on the northern coast of the Earth Kingdom and at the North Pole to ask for their support in the coming conflict.

Hay Lin and Irma traveled south, as the Guardians were popular in that area.

Which left the central Earth Kingdom recruiting to Sokka and Toph.

As they journeyed to the home of the Foggy Swamp Tribe, the two members of the GAang witnessed a meteor scream out of the sky and impact not far from the pair.

Feeling the vibrations unleashed by the celestial object, Toph knew it was small.

Seized by an overwhelming curiosity, and despite Sokka's protests, Toph took a minor detour from their mission and visited the site of the meteor's landfall.

To their great surprise, the blind earth bender and the Water Tribe warrior didn't find ore from the heavens.

"Oh! Sokka! It's..." Toph sensed the vibrations a second time to confirm what her earth bending was telling her. "...It's a baby!!"

Stooping to pick up the bundle of joy from above, an ecstatic Toph cradled the child in her arms, cooing in delight. "Isn't it wonderful, Sokka! A baby from the sky! It must be a gift of the Spirits!"

"Toph, I wouldn't get too attached!" Sokka cautioned. "That kid must belong to someone! Or worse!"

"Nonsense! He came from the meteor! You know that as well as I do!" Toph gently argued.

"If that was even possible, Toph, and I'm not saying it is, or isn't." the skeptical Sokka spelled out his concerns. "But what you don't know is we're close to the Swamp. And w-e-i-r-d things happen there! I kid you not! The place is way freaky! This kid could be, I don't know, a plant creature for all we know!"

"Will you listen to yourself, Sokka?" Toph scoffed. "Look at him! I can tell he's a healthy, happy, human baby, and I can't even see!"

"He is kind of cute!" Sokka said, warming to the little guy. "Kootchie koo!" he tickled the babe's chin.

"What do you think we should call him?" Toph asked the Water Tribesman.

"Whoa whoa!" Sokka held up his hands in a 'stop' gesture. "**If**...we can't find his parents, we'll...consider naming him, alright?"

"C...C" the baby sputtered.

"Oh look! He's trying to talk! Isn't that cute?" Toph beamed.

"That's crazy! He's obviously a newborn! He can't talk!" Sokka rejected the notion.

"Ca...Ca..Cal!" the baby boy blurted out. "Om Cal!"

"That's a good name!" Toph decided. "Let's call him Cal!"

"What the?! Did he??...He just talked!" Sokka exclaimed, dumbfounded.

Unnoticed by both Toph and Sokka, an hourglass, half full of sand, lay on its side near the debris kicked up by the meteor.

_Next:_

_The relationship chapter!_

_Tokka!_

_Mako!_

_Kataang!_

_Zurnelia! (or is that Coko??)_

_And wait till you see what Hay Lin does!_

_(With special web-enhanced content! It's better than Hayaang!)_

_Plus:_

_More on the mystery of Cal!_

_The secret origin of Koh!_

_And special guests!_

Notes

Papaver somniferum is the scientific name of the opium poppy.

Lo and Li (the two old Fire Nation ladies who work for the royal family) aren't in the story because, being a couple of 'homers' (they always cheered the home team - the Fire Nation - no matter how evil they acted), as well as being closely tied to Princess Azula, were probably told 'your services are no longer required' and forcibly 'retired' to some faraway island, to live out the rest of their life in peace. Also, so they don't disrupt Zuko's rule. But they are mentioned in a later chapter.

Zuko's trusted adviser, Shen Ming, is my creation. He was introduced in Chapter 22 of _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar. _He's not really Zuko's cousin (not a first cousin, anyway). He's Lu Ten's cousin (so Iroh is Uncle to both Zuko and Shen). At family gatherings, Zuko and Shen hung out together because Lu Ten was years older and didn't want to associate with 'the kids'.

Aang mentions Solstice is "a good time for visiting Spirits". But there's nary a peep from any Spirits at all. Coincidence...or something more?

Iroh described the Rough Rhinos as "a very capable singing group." The Rough Rhinos appeared in "Avatar Day" and "The Desert". They're also responsible for the destruction of Jet's village (seen in flashback).

_Blue Moon _(doo wop version) was first recorded by the Marcels in 1961. It's not very Asian, but then, neither is the Foggy Swamp Water Tribe, who are based on stereotypical denizens of the Louisiana bayou. And it is funny!

This story is my epic 'comic book'. I've tried before, with varying degrees of success, but I think I finally have one here. The opening scene in the first installment is like the 'splash page teaser' that DC Comics did often in the 60s and 70s. Future chapters are even more 'comic booky' in terms of action and drama. Plus, old favorites are re-interpreted in new and exciting ways (without changing what makes them unique individuals and beloved characters, of course!) And there's plenty of slam bang action, including a finale that's absolutely world-shaking! 'Secrets are revealed! Things will never be the same! This is the one you dare not miss!' Etc. And it's all true. No hype here.


	4. Sons and Daughters

**Author's note: This chapter was running long, so the Invasion is in the next chapter. With the stage set, the relationships among the various participants in our tale can be delved into more deeply. (Translation: Lots of soapy goodness!)**

**Also, each chapter now begins with a 'long ago' prelude that tells of events in the past that will have a big effect on our heroes in the present.**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

A Very Long Time Ago…

_In a forest, a playful, happy spirit with a round face chased after tiny creatures (beings who looked like miniature trees, insects with doll-size human arms and legs, and walnuts who possessed the faces of men and women)._

_"Ha! I got you!" he teased as he 'tagged' a few of the little guys. _

_"Ha ha ha!" the diminutive spirits giggled._

_"Let's do that again!" the larger spirit with the oval head and long body exclaimed._

_Then he closed his eyes._

_"Where are you?" he asked upon opening them. But there was only silence in response._

_The he heard muffled cries, and the sound of commotion, of many feet stomping through the woods._

_Drawing nearer to the location of the noise, he realized it was people. Human beings!_

_"Wow! What a haul!" one of them, a young man with brown eyes and gray hair, said._

_"Yeah! I think that thunderstorm last night must have boosted our 'catchers!" another replied. He was older, with a white mustache and blue eyes._

_Using his feet to part the brush, the fun-loving spirit of play, Wu Guo, cast his eyes upon a horrible sight!_

_His spirit brethren, trapped in round metallic rings! They cried out in pain and fear, but the humans ignored them!_

_"An interesting theory, but..." the young man responded to his companion, as the two men gathered up the rings containing the captured beings and shoved them into a sack. Then the young adult cocked his eyes toward the visitor. "Oh, look! Another one!"_

_"He's a biggie!" the old man cautiously observed._

_"Yeah, but he's harmless! I mean, look at him!" the youngster laughed._

_Wu Guo, the happy-go-lucky spirit with the round, cherubic face, began to...change. His features contorted into a mask of pain and rage!_

_And then...His numerous legs propelled him at the two men!_

_They screamed, and fell back!_

_When, finally, they stopped struggling and lie there, silent and unmoving on the ground, they were missing...their faces!_

_Koh, formerly the spirit of play known as Wu Guo, slinked quietly away on his many padded feet, carrying with him the first of many faces he would eventually steal, the empty sack of his victims billowing in the forest breeze._

Chapter 4: Sons and Daughters

August 1st (8 days before the Day of Black Sun), Central Earth Kingdom...

**KLANG!**

Went the young boy's blade as it deflected the sword of the older, taller youth. Then he spun around and kicked in the back of the older boy's knees, sending him quickly to the ground in a crumpled heap!

"Yee-ow!" the teen howled, as much from embarrassment as from pain.

"You're getting better, Sokka." the youngster charitably said, extending his hand toward the fallen Water Tribe warrior to help him to his feet. "But you have to stop leading with your right!"

Sokka, miffed at being lectured on combat by a kid barely out of diapers, ignored the offered hand and got himself up out of the dirt.

"If you say so, Cal. I'll keep that in mind." the proud son of the South Pole Water Tribe replied through gritted teeth as he dusted himself off.

"If you two are through playing, dinner's almost ready." Toph Bei Fong announced.

"We weren't 'playing', Toph! We're combat training! I was showing Cal a thing or two about how we do it, Water Tribe style!"

"Uh huh. So what part of Water Tribe style includes you falling on your butt?" Toph smirked. Though blind, she could sense people and objects through solid ground.

"Uh...The part where we make like Otter-Pengins?" arctic native Sokka meekly suggested in a weak attempt to save face. "You know, to slide down the glacier?"

"You see any glaciers around here?" Toph teased. Their environs were the warmest part of the Earth Kingdom.

"Well, there could be. If there was a mountain..." Sokka rationalized.

"Cal, could you get us some firewood?" the earth bender politely requested.

"Sure, Toph!" Cal answered, and set about finding some wood.

"...Or, you know, if we get an ice age..." Sokka rambled on.

The three campers had been traveling through the middle area of the Earth Kingdom, gathering allies for an invasion of the Fire Nation to depose the current Fire Lord, Zuko. And that part of their mission went just fine. But other things, particularly the foundling, Cal, were decidedly strange.

As soon as they were alone, the South Pole Water Tribesman vented his misgivings.

"Toph, don't you think it's just a wee bit odd that after a few weeks Cal is now, what, about eight years old??" Sokka fumed. "And have you seen the way he eats??"

"He's a growing boy. So?" Toph brushed it off and went back to preparing dinner.

"Grows like a weed, you mean! And now he's beating me in duels!!" Sokka retorted. "I once thought about seeking a master swordsman to train me, but now I think I'll let Cal do it! Heck, he could probably beat all of our warriors one-on-one!" Sokka added, in a mystified but sincere admiration of the youngster's skills.

"Cal's special. You know that." Toph smiled. "He did come out of a meteor!"

"Yeah, okay. But..." Sokka uneasily groped for the right words.

"But what? Do you want to get rid of him?" the annoyed Toph, arms on hips, challenged the Water Tribe boy. "Do you want to march him back to that Swamp and drop him off, see ya later, Cal!" she said, pantomiming a wave goodbye.

"No! You know I don't want to do that! I like Cal, too. And I like...everything about..." Sokka paused and looked at the young earth girl. He was about to say 'us', but instead said "...Him being around. But now things are going to change. We're going to war. And..."

"I know. I'm worried, too." Toph admitted. Then she sensed something. "Shh! He's coming back."

While Cal dropped the firewood near the fire, Toph addressed the Water Tribe teen.

"Thanks, Sokka." she sweetly said.

"Huh? Thanks for what?" the baffled boy warrior blurted out as he hungrily dug into the meal.

"For being you." Toph smiled, then she bashfully turned away from the object of her affection and happily busied herself with some chore.

"She's crazy about you, dad! You do know that, right?" Cal observed.

"What??" Sokka spewed the food from his throat. Wiping himself of regurgitated meat pie, he then lectured the precocious child. "Okay, number one: Don't speak of things you know nothing about. Number two: Eat your greens. Number three: And don't call me dad!"

"What _do_ I call the man who changed my dirty diapers? How about sire?" Cal suggested.

"Better. Not perfect! But better." Sokka agreed. "But don't mention the 'changing diapers' thing to anyone, alright?"

After that uncomfortable exchange, dinner was uneventful. There was talk of the different birds they had seen on their journey, but Sokka just had to turn it into a contest when he stated how many birds he could knock out of the sky with his boomerang! This spurred Cal to declare he could probably hit even more of the winged creatures. Luckily, for the birds' sake, Toph broke up that insane pissing match!

Then Cal asked about something that had been bothering him. "Are you sure there was nothing else where you found me?"

"No, Cal. It was just you." Toph told the young boy.

"Yeah, sport! You were the only 'special delivery' we got!" Sokka joked, trying to keep things light.

_Interlude_

_Near the depression in the terrain created when a meteor landed, a young, earth bending badgermole stuck his head out of the ground. Seeing something shiny, a glass hourglass half full of sand, he scooped it up with his tongue and swallowed it. He crunched on the hourglass, spat out the glass...then instantly grew much older and larger! Bored with the area, he squeezed back into his now extremely tight hole, bent the earth to make the tunnel larger, and disappeared._

_End Interlude_

"I was sent here for some reason. Some problem I have to fix. I wish I could remember...Why do I keep seeing something gold-colored?" Cal mused. The dark-haired boy then grew quiet. This worried his 'parents'. Cal had mentioned this mission of his before, but Sokka and Toph did not know what to make of it.

So Sokka decided to play along.

"So, who's the girl?" Sokka inquired, a smile playing about his lips.

"A girl?" Toph asked.

"My mom and dad always used to tell me stories about ancient Avatars and heroes before bedtime, and there was always a girl involved!" the teen of the Water Tribe informed the Earth Kingdom lass.

"Yes! A golden girl!" Cal excitedly shouted. "That's who I'm supposed to meet!"

Their tension released, Sokka and Toph both laughed.

"Sorry, Cal!" Sokka apologized for his rude behavior. "But I've been all over this world, and trust me, there aren't any 'golden girls' anywhere!"

"Really? Thanks for letting me know." said the disappointed Cal.

"So, anyway, tomorrow I have to meet Suki to discuss war plans." Sokka innocently interjected as he washed down Toph Bei Fong's carefully prepared meal with a cup of root ale.

"Oh." was all Toph said in response. But it was much more than a simple 'Oh.'

"Dad!" Cal yelled at Sokka, then lightly punched the right arm of his 'sire'.

"Ow! What?!" Sokka exclaimed. "And I thought I told you..."

"Look at Toph!" Cal directed Sokka's attention to the blind earth bender. She had gotten up and absentmindedly began to clean the campsite. But it was the expression on her face that told Sokka all he needed to know. Sadness. Disappointment. _A broken heart?_

"Oh!! Uhh, but I don't have to go! To see Suki, that is! I mean, uh, why don't you go, Toph?" Sokka suggested, in an attempt to ease her hurt feelings.

"That's silly, Sokka! Why would I meet with Suki? I'm not planning any wars! That's you and your father's job!" Toph sternly answered the Water Tribesman.

"So it's alright with you if I meet with Suki to make war plans?" Sokka asked.

"Yes, of course! That's what I just said, didn't I?" the exasperated Toph replied.

"You're sure??" Sokka desperately inquired.

"Yes!! You don't need to ask my permission, Sokka!" Toph forcefully argued.

"Okay, well, if you're sure!" Sokka said, putting the argument to rest.

Or so he had thought.

"Sokka..." Cal admonished him.

"What?? She said it was okay!" Sokka replied in a panicked voice.

"I may only be eight, but even I know if a woman says it's okay, it really isn't!" wise young Cal informed the Water Tribesman.

"Okay, Cal, you may know a lot about fighting, but the day I take relationship advice from an eight year old...!" Sokka shot back. Then he changed his tune. "So, what do you think would make a better gift for when I get back? Candy or flowers?"

"Toph's blind, so you want to go with something that she can enjoy with all her other senses. Candy!" Cal offered.

"Should I get one of those potions that makes guys sweet-smelling, or rely on my own manly musk?" Sokka asked, furiously scribbling down Cal's answers on a piece of parchment.

"No, you don't want to use some potion!" Cal educated the clueless Water Tribe boy. "Toph might think you got it from Suki or, worse, that you _smell _like Suki!"

"Good point!" Sokka checked his list. "Now what if I..."

ooooooooooooooo

August 4th, the Royal Zoo of the Fire Nation...

As Taranee the 'Fire Angel' performed fire tricks and signed autographs for her many fans, one young girl stood aloof from the rest.

She watched the proceedings for a bit, then adjusted her head scarf, making sure all her golden locks were covered, lest someone recognize her and create a scene. She then wandered off to pretend to enjoy a day at the zoo, staring at animals in cages. Tigerdillos. Rabbiroos. Woolly Mandrill. Poodle Monkey. And an extremely rare Lion-Turtle!

But even here, the blonde from another world could not find peace.

A flying man landed behind her.

"Why did you leave your friend? This special day is to honor you both!" he told her.

"That's okay. I'm not interested in being a rock star." Cornelia dryly informed the man, Fire Lord Zuko.

"Rock star?" The modern earth reference was lost on the Fire Nation ruler, but he grasped its meaning. And changed the subject. "So, um, how do you like our zoo? Rare animals from around the world!"

But Cornelia was not impressed. "I've seen better."

Which Zuko took as a personal challenge!

"Here, I want to show you something." Zuko said, offering his hand to her.

"Is that an order, _boss?" _ the Earth Guardian sarcastically replied.

"Please?" he humbly implored her.

Touched by Zuko's sensitivity, Corny followed him to an area of the zoo closed off to the public. There, in a specially-guarded pen, a young lizard with short, stubby wings romped.

"See that? We hatched it and a few others from eggs we found buried in the sand when we were cleaning up the beaches. It's a dragon! We're bringing the dragons back!" Zuko exulted.

"That's great." Cornelia replied matter-of-factly. "Want to know what I see?" she asked the young Fire Lord.

"What?" Zuko curiously inquired.

"A bunch of animals behind bars! I know how they feel." Cornelia said in a voice both bitchy and sad, both strong and vulnerable.

"Cornelia..." Zuko began, searching for the right words to comfort his indentured servant. "You know I can't let you and your friends leave quite yet! My generals tell me the Earth Kingdom will invade soon! I need your help!"

"And I need my friends! And freedom!" the young Earth girl sulked.

"Anything but that, you know I would give to you." the silver-tongued devil told the troubled teen. Then he drew closer to her, and attempted to put his arms around her. "You deserve to be happy. One so beautiful shouldn't be so sad."

But the captive girl from another world would have none of it. Tearfully, she backed away from the young ruler of the Fire Lands.

"Stop. Please don't." Cornelia meekly said, wet tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry. I was just..." Zuko blurted. With nothing more to say, he then took off, using the power of the Heart of Candracar to fly away.

From the air, Taranee the Fire Guardian observed Zuko jetting off and spied where he alighted from. Seeing Cornelia at the location, she landed and said "You and Zuko again, huh? You guys an item?" she scornfully added.

"Don't be like that, Taranee!" Cornelia defended herself. "I know what I'm doing!"

"You say that, then I see you in his arms!" Taranee criticized her friend's dalliance with the leader of the Fire Nation. "So what am I supposed to think?"

"Taranee, we have to gain his trust in order to defeat him! Haven't you seen ANY movies?" Corny, who had obviously seen too many movies and read too many teen magazines, reasoned.

"Cornelia, this isn't a soap opera!" Tara argued.

"No duh!" Cornelia mocked her friend's logic.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Cornelia! Be careful you don't fall into Zuko's trap while you're busy preparing your own!" the bright Guardian of Fire pointed out. "And don't forget why we're here!"

"Hmphhh!" the Guardian of Earth responded, arms folded in annoyance. "I could say the same thing about you!" she added, referring to Taranee's enjoyment of the trappings of fame.

Weary of trying to talk some sense into her friend, Taranee activated her wings and soared back to the Palace.

Cornelia lingered on the zoo grounds. Dipping her hand in a pool of water, she thought of her missing friend Irma, the Water Guardian, and how she could see the future in water. If only she could see the future, Cornelia thought to herself. Then she would know what action to take. Her musings wandered to the leader of their group, still being held by their captor in an undisclosed location. _Will wouldn't have to see the future! She'd know what to do. _Cornelia lamented.

As she traced her hand in the water, concentric waves circled away from the break in the surface tension, and gradually became farther and farther apart, mirroring the relationship between Cornelia and Taranee, the two Guardians who, unfortunately, had never been that close to begin with.

ooooooooooooooo

August 4th, Northern Earth Kingdom...

On their way back from their successful trip to the North Pole and the Northern Earth Kingdom (including the Northern Air Temple) to get help for the planned invasion of the Fire Nation, Aang & Katara took a detour.

To the Eastern Air Temple!

Aang hoped the Guru at the Temple could help him master the Avatar State, that awesome force of all the past Avatars' knowledge and power.

But Aang had a lot to learn.

"Aang, tell me everything you know about chakras." Guru Pathik asked.

"What are chakras?" the sleepy Aang innocently replied as he rubbed his eyes.

Aang had a lot more questions. More than normal. But then, with the addition of Irma and Hay Lin to their little band of freedom fighters (especially Hay Lin!), Aang was more confused than normal.

So, Guru Pathik patiently explained the entire process to Aang. It sounded doable to the young air bender. Then the Guru detailed the last chakra.

"And then, for your seventh and final chakra, you must remove yourself from all your attachments to the physical world and join with the energy of the cosmos!" Pathik announced.

"ALL my attachments??" Aang wondered in wide-eyed disbelief. "Even...love?"

"Yes, of course!" the Guru stated. "If you don't, the chakras will lock and you will be unable to enter the Avatar State at all! So let us begin."

"What??" Aang bellowed. "You didn't tell me that!"

Aang's hope to command the power of the Avatar State crashed and burned in that instant! Guru Pathik was a spiritual brother to his people, the Air Nomads, and he knew the Guru could help him. But he loved Katara and, Hay Lin, she was...he wasn't quite sure. And now this? He could lose the Avatar State if he fails?!

"I, I'm sorry, Guru Pathik, but I can't do this right now. I'm not ready." Aang humbly informed the wise old soul.

"I understand, Aang. Don't worry! There are many paths to enlightenment." Pathik encouraged the boy.

"Thank you, sir." Aang bowed and exited the Guru's meditation room.

"I pray to the Spirits you find yours, young Avatar." Guru Pathik added once Aang was out of earshot.

Upon re-joining Katara, she asked Aang "So, how'd it go? Did he help you control the Avatar State?"

"We...discussed meditation techniques that could be useful when I go into the Avatar State. That's all." Aang answered her. Which was true, but hardly the whole story.

"Oh. I hope you're not disappointed, Aang." Katara consoled the young Avatar.

"Disappointed? No." Aang happily replied. "I've got everything I need to defeat the Fire Lord right here." he added, almost blushing as he said it. He cried "Yip yip!" and Appa took the two young benders into the sky, on a course to reunite them with their friends.

ooooooooooooooo

When Zuko returned to the Palace, he got a frosty welcome from his paramour in their private apartment.

"You've been with _her _again, haven't you?" she grilled him.

"Now, Mai, don't be that way!" Zuko teased. "You know you're the only one for me!"

"Then why do you get tongue-tied and practically trip over your own feet when you're around that outworlder girl? It's embarrassing! Everyone sees it!" Mai complained.

"By 'everyone', I take it you mean my personal guard, who really ought to keep their mouths shut." Fire Lord Zuko bitterly observed. "Besides, I thought you liked that about me! You didn't mind when I acted that way around you."

'That was years ago, Zuko! You've matured since then! At least, I thought you did!" the nobleman's daughter bitched.

"Don't worry. 'Act' is the operative word here. When it comes to an asset like this Earth Guardian, I have to be very careful in how I manage her." Zuko revealed. "But it won't be for much longer. Trust me."

"So this is all part of some grand plan, is that it?" Mai mocked Zuko. "Well, does this 'plan' take into account the fact this Cornelia is not as old as she appears? Betcha didn't know that!" Mai added, recalling how she learned that interesting tidbit of information when she dueled Cornelia in Avatar Town.

"Oh, I know all about the Guardian's aging abilities. Which makes it even easier!" Zuko wickedly smiled.

"Zuko!" exclaimed the shocked Mai.

"What? Oh, I don't mean like that!" Zuko downplayed the errant comment. Then he turned amorous. "Besides, I could never leave you for Cornelia. Not unless I wanted to wake up with a knife at my throat!"

"Yeah. There is that." Mai agreed. "Now come here and show me how a Fire Lord does it!"

The two members of Fire Nation royalty then fell into each other's arms, becoming as one, for long into the night.

ooooooooooooooo

August 4th, Southern Earth Kingdom...

In the skies above the Swamp of the Earth Kingdom, two Guardians, having completed their mission in the south (on Kyoshi Island, Avatar Town, and other places) to gather allies for the upcoming invasion of the Fire Nation and on their way to the rendezvous point, discussed...other matters.

"Are you sure Aang will like our little 'surprise'?" Hay Lin fearfully asked as she flew through the air, and used her power over that element to tow her friend behind her.

"Trust me, Hay Hay, he's gonna love it!" Irma assured her.

ooooooooooooooo

August 6th, the Throne Room of the Royal Palace of the Fire Lord...

"You wanted to see me, Zuko?" The impertinent girl walked in unannounced and casually addressed the leader of the Fire Nation. Which caused Zuko's aides to stare, first at Cornelia and then at the Fire Lord for his response.

The Royal Guards glared at the rude outworlder.

Cornelia, having gotten the none-too-subtle message, made a show of curtsying and bowing, and mockingly said "Excuse me, o great Fire Lord Zuko! What is thy wish, great master?"

While Corny remained frozen in her sarcastic bow, Zuko ordered the assembled aides and guards out of the Throne Room.

"The Earth Kingdom forces will attack our Nation in a few days, and the Avatar is leading the invasion." the Fire Lord solemnly informed the Guardian of Earth.

"What?? No, Aang wouldn't do that!" Cornelia dismissed the notion. "Why would the Avatar start a war when you said you would talk to them?"

"Because they hate my country, and are using the excuse of what my forebears did for 100 years to justify their actions." Zuko grimly told the teen Guardian. "And the Avatar is among the worst! Believing some insane 'prophecy' that he has to defeat me, instead of the facts!"

"But I thought the Avatar was a man of peace?!" Cornelia Hale cried.

"It's already begun, Cornelia!" Fire Lord Zuko stated his case. "They've been launching small, sporadic attacks against the Colonies, although my generals say it could be a feint."

"A feint?" she asked.

"A trick. A way of gauging our defenses, for when they finally do invade." Zuko elaborated. "Or the invasion could be somewhere else entirely. There's no way to know for sure! So I've ordered my forces split, to defend both the Homeland and the Colonies. Which spreads us very thin, but..."

"But, Zuko, how can you be so sure there will be an invasion?" the blonde earth elemental inquired. "If these are just, um, skirmishes?"

"Because the invaders plan to move against the people of my Nation when we are at our weakest." Zuko revealed. He then sighed and cast his eyes downward, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Returning his steely gaze to the caring Earth Guardian, the calculating Zuko added "You see, Cornelia, on August 9th, there will be a solar eclipse, when all fire benders lose their fire bending ability. My spies tell me the Earth Kingdom knows this, and that's when they'll attack us!"

"Why are you telling me this?" the curious Corny wondered, nervous at learning such a deep, dark, hidden fact.

"The eclipse is supposed to be a state secret, but I don't think there's any harm in telling you." Zuko confided in the young girl. Then he placed his hand on her shoulder and said "This is why I needed you and Taranee! Our nation will be virtually helpless! Cornelia, can I count on you to help defend our people?"

Cornelia gulped. She realized the enormity of her reply, of what it would mean. To fight against the Earth Kingdom army was one thing, but to possibly battle her friends? Then she thought of little Guang, and Hoshi and Ren, and all of the other good folk she had met in the Fire Nation, and there was only one thing she could say. Cornelia looked directly at Zuko and answered "Yes, of course."

"Thank you, Cornelia!" Zuko embraced the young Guardian in a warm hug.

ooooooooooooooo

August 6th, the Allies' camp outside Omashu...

"For the last time, Cal, you can't come with me and Toph! We're going to war! You can stay with King Bumi in Omashu. You'll like him! He's a lot of fun!" Sokka told the young boy.

"But I want to go with you and Toph! It feels like I should be with you, for some reason." Cal whined.

"End of discussion! Oh! There's my dad! Why don't you go off and play, Cal?"

Sokka shooed the youngster away. Cal felt put out, but did as he was told. For the moment.

Meanwhile, the young warrior greeted his sire. "Hi, Dad!"

"Sokka! Hello, son!" Hakoda replied. Then he noticed something odd. "Eh? Who's that young boy…fighting with my men?"

Sokka wheeled around. "Whoops! That's Cal! And he's, uh, just playing! Cal! Stop that!" the teen yelled at he young boy, who was in the process of taking down half a dozen Water Tribe warriors in a sparring match. Then the embarrassed Sokka took his father aside. "Um, why don't we go in this hut and discuss the war plans?"

But Sokka was interrupted...by Toph!

"Sokka! Great news! I just heard about this new singing group from Ba Sing Se! Everyone says they're a must-see! They sing something called 'Blue Moon', and..." Toph nervously rambled on.

"Yeah, that's nice! Except we're kind of busy here! War planning, that sort of thing! You know, not as important as 'singing groups'!" Sokka sarcastically shot her down.

"Hmphh! Suit yourself!" the peeved Toph replied.

"Oh, who is this lovely girl? Sokka, where are your manners?" the polite Hakoda interjected.

"Oh, sorry, dad! This is..." Sokka began.

"Don't tell me! Let me guess! Hmmm. She must be quite near and dear to your heart!" Hakoda correctly speculated.

"Thank you, sir! Sokka's told me so much about you, too!" Toph beamed.

"...Ah! You must be Suki!" the Water Tribe Chief declared. "Son, you didn't tell me Suki was blind!"

Toph was shocked! Very shocked! She turned around, and marched back to camp!

"But, she's not..!" Sokka wanted to explain, but knew he had to patch things up with Toph, so he chased after her.

"Toph! Wait!" he yelled.

But the offended, blind earth bender would have none of it! She quickly made an 'earth hut' for herself, and sealed it so no one could get in!

"Toph, I'm sorry!" Sokka begged.

"You don't want to tell your father about me, that's your business!" Toph caustically replied.

"That's not fair, Toph! I haven't exactly spent a lot of quality time with my dad lately!" Sokka argued. Realizing reason would get him nowhere, he tried bribery. "You still want to see those singers? I'll go with you!"

"Really? Then I've got something for you!" Toph said, in a syrupy sweet voice.

"Yeah? That's great, Toph! I knew we could work this out!" A relieved Sokka loosened up, his stiff muscles, constricted with emotional distress and misery, regaining their elasticity.

Then Toph pelted Sokka with meat products.

"Ow! Not the meat jerky! Ouch! Toph!!" Sokka cried out.

Re-sealing the earth hut, Sokka was left standing there, draped in that which had always comforted him. Until today.

"Female trouble, eh?" Bato commented. Then the Water Tribesman told another of his # stories! "I remember this one time we were on a hunt, and when I got back my wife Roja wouldn't let me into the hut! I had to sleep outside, in the middle of a pack of zebra seals so I wouldn't freeze! To this day I still don't know what I did!"

"And that's why we don't hunt with the women!" Hakoda added. Both men then laughed heartily.

A furious Sokka, paying no heed to who was laughing, raged "Will you two shut up!!"

Then he realized what he did.

"Whoops! Uh, dad, Bato...I, I didn't mean..." Sokka apologized.

"That's okay, son." Hakoda calmly said. "Bato, would you..?"

Conferring privately with his now grown-up child, Hakoda said "I know it must hurt, Sokka. But it's not the end of the world. It'll get better."

"I'm just...so confused, dad!" Sokka poured out his heart. "I mean, I love Suki, or at least I thought I did! But now there's Toph, and I just don't know what to do!"

"You have a good heart, son. You'll figure it out. Now come help me with this sail!" the elder cajoled his only son, knowing work could provide the purpose, distance and time Sokka needed to ease his troubled heart.

Meanwhile, Cal made the acquaintance of King Bumi of Omashu.

"Sir, you've been around a long time, right?" Cal asked.

"112 years! Or is that 113? I stopped counting around 105! Hee hee!" Bumi cackled. "Why?"

"So, have you ever heard of a golden girl? I need to know!" Cal anxiously asked.

"Well, no." the elderly Bumi replied.

"Oh. I see. Thanks." the disheartened Cal mouthed.

"But some girls have golden hair!" King Bumi piped up.

"Really?! I knew it! That must be..." Cal started, then was cut off.

"Except they're fake! Hair dye. It was all the rage for a while!" Bumi somberly added.

More depressed than ever, Cal walked off with King Bumi, to live a safe life in the walled, mountaintop city of Omashu.

Soon after, the other members of the group arrived at the Allies' camp.

Including Aang, Katara, and the two Guardians, Irma and Hay Lin, who just missed meeting the exiting Cal. The same Cal who arrived in a meteor from a far-off land familiar to the Guardians.

ooooooooooooooo

"Our Colonies will be particularly vulnerable to Earth Kingdom attack during the Eclipse, so I'm sending our strongest fighter, the Fire Guardian, to defend them." Fire Lord Zuko casually mentioned to the Earth Guardian as they conversed in the Royal Throne Room.

"What??" a surprised Cornelia responded.

"On the homefront, our biggest problem will be the earth benders, but you can handle them, right?" Zuko asked her.

"Excuse me?" Cornelia croaked. This was not what she wanted to hear. That Taranee would leave her in the lurch during a massive invasion, and she would have to take on an entire army by herself?!

"Zuko, what you're asking of me, to be honest...I don't think I can pull it off! I'm not that powerful!" Cornelia reluctantly admitted.

"I see." Zuko replied, without looking at the teen Guardian. Instead, he stared into the flames dancing in the fireplace, hands folded behind his back. "Well, if that's the case, then there's nothing more you can do for us. Besides, I can't make you fight your friends! That wouldn't be right. I hereby release you from your promise to serve me, Cornelia. You're free to go. My nation will just have to manage as best we can."

"Zuko, I do want to help your people!" the compassionate Cornelia Hale ran to the side of the young Fire Lord and plead her case. "But as I am, there's only so much I can do." Zuko turned his head toward the girl, and their eyes met. She continued. "However, you could..." Cornelia hesitated. She briefly looked down, then returned her eyes to their previous level, baring her soul to the intense leader of the Fire Nation. Cornelia couldn't hide who she was any longer. "…transform me."

"What do you mean?" a baffled Zuko sought more information.

"You can use the power of the Heart of Candracar to transform me, and increase my power." the Guardian of Earth disclosed. "Then I'll be able to protect the people of the Fire Nation from any threat!"

"I..." Zuko choked up. "...On behalf of my people, thank you, Cornelia! I know how hard it must have been for you to reveal a secret like that!" he said as he held her hands and looked into the young female Guardian's eyes. "You're an amazing woman, you know that? I..."

"Yes, Zuko?" Cornelia's heart palpitated.

Then he leaned closer to her, and she to him.

Their lips met in a kiss. (Their first ever!)

But more than love was on Cornelia's mind.

_And after we deal with this 'invasion', Taranee and I will be powerful enough to stop you and free Will! _ the lip-locked teen schemed.

Exiting the throne room after an interval of time, Cornelia straightened her long, blonde hair. Then she spotted the Fire Lord's next audience...

...Taranee!

"So, have you heard?" the fiery Guardian asked her earthy counterpart.

"What?!" the surprised girl yelped, afraid she had been found out. "What have you heard??"

"That Zuko is sending me to the Fire Nation Colonies!" Taranee answered. "Why, what did you think I meant?"

"Oh. Right. Of course." the massively relieved Corny replied.

"And you're okay with that? You'll be alright here, if the Earth Army invades?" Taranee, puzzled at her friend's reaction, asked.

"I'll be fine! Zuko and I have a...secret plan to defend the country. So don't worry!" Cornelia smiled.

"Zuko...and I?" Taranee questioned, cocking an eyebrow to emphasize she didn't think highly of her companion's chumminess with the man who held them prisoner, and wanted an explanation.

Looking around, Cornelia noticed guards coming to escort the Guardian of Fire into her meeting with the Fire Lord, so she spoke quickly, and whispered. "My plan's working. Can't give you details now. Be prepared to move against Zuko when you come back."

Before Taranee could react to her fellow Guardian's comments, she was whisked away by the security detail for her conference with Zuko. Cornelia, uncharacteristically humming a tune, innocently went about her duties. The hum sounded, oddly enough, like 'bibbidi-bobbidi-boo'.

ooooooooooooooo

"Attention, everybody!" Irma announced to the eclectic group of 'bending' freedom fighters in the Allies' war camp. "Me and Hay Lin had a few ideas for the invasion! Well, Hay Lin, mostly! She saw some old scrolls and got totally inspired! Wait'll you see what she came up with!"

"Irma!" the demure Air Guardian mildly scolded. Though hidden behind a screen, she was clearly embarrassed by her longtime friend's effusive praise.

"Okay, okay!" Irma backpedaled. "Without any further adodoo, I hereby present...The new Hay Lin!"

Irma stepped aside, and Hay Lin emerged from her hiding place.

Everyone gasped!

"Wow! She's, she's..." a flustered Aang uttered.

"Unbelievable?" Sokka offered.

Katara, meanwhile, was speechless. "I, uh...The words don't exist that can..."

Toph, though, wanted to know what the heck was going on!

"What is it? What happened to Hay Lin?" Toph asked. For the first time in a long time, the earth bender regretted being blind. Then, in an attempt to discover what was occurring, she used her ability to sense heartbeats to gauge the others' reactions. "Sokka, why is your heart racing?"

"Oh, no particular reason!" the angelic Water Tribe teen replied. His words said one thing, however, while his actions said another thing entirely.

"Sokka! Don't stare!" his sister chastised him.

"Yeah, but…They didn't have girls who looked like this where I grew up!" the South Pole boy answered, in a foolhardy attempt to explain himself. "Ow! Katara, not my ear!" he yelled, as his sibling dragged him away to complete his chores.

"Wow, Hay Lin, you look…amazing!" Aang gushed.

"Really?? Yap! Thank you, Aang!" said the bubbly (and relieved!) Guardian of Air. "I was so worried you might be offended!"

"See, Hay Lin? I told you Aang would love it!" the Water Guardian beamed proudly at having been proven right, impressing even herself with her prognostication skills.

"Offended? No, I feel great you would honor my people in this way!" Aang told the young Asian girl.

Hay Lin had, under Irma's guidance, abandoned the modest (and rather drab) robes of the Earth Kingdom and adopted attire more suited to a girl who, in another life, could have been an Air Nomad! The two young Guardians had found an old scroll portraying a female air bender from the Western Air Temple, and decided to give it a go.

"It's all part of our plan!" Irma added. "We've got more traditional robes for when we go into battle later on, but we wanted to try out the whole air bender look on you guys before we went full bore on it. And if you're that surprised, imagine how the Fire Nation will react!"

"You even got the ribbons right! And you have all the air bender tattoos!" the young Air Monk marveled at the foreign girl's attention to detail. Hay Lin had the blue arrow tattoos of the air bender culture on her head, feet and hands, and they ran all the way up her arms and legs, just like Aang's. Plus, the robes she wore were very similar to the ones the sole Air Nomad dressed in. Except, the girl from Heatherfield did it all in her own inimitable style. "But what's that tattoo around your belly button?" Aang asked.

"Oh, that's my symbol!" Hay Lin informed the last air bender, her pigtails moving excitedly in the breeze. "It's the Candracar symbol for air. And the air bender tattoos are only temporary."

"Yeah, Hay Hay isn't totally turning her back on her past!" Irma chuckled. "She might go native, but she doesn't want to forget where she came from!"

"Well, of course you wouldn't want to do that!" Aang agreed, his respect for the air elemental from another world growing by leaps and bounds by the second.

(If you want to know why everyone (except Toph) is staring at Hay Lin, go to

worldwideweb dot teenheroines dot com - the can't resist a plug creator!)

As the three continued their discussion, another member of their group had very personal issues on her mind.

"I guess that's that." said a dejected Toph Bei Fong.

"That's what, Toph?" Katara inquired.

"Sokka really doesn't love me!" she cried.

"If you mean because of the way he ogled Hay Lin…" the water bender commented.

"No, it's not that. It's Suki!" Toph revealed.

"Oh." replied Katara. She knew her brother's feelings for the Kyoshi Warrior, and couldn't deny it to Toph.

"I guess that whole thing with Cal was just…playing house." Toph emoted.

"Ooh! Am I missing anything juicy?" said Irma, joining the conversation.

"Toph was telling me she thinks Sokka doesn't love her because he's in love with Suki." Katara filled in the Water Guardian. Turning to the earth bender, she sensitively added "Sokka does cares about you, Toph! He cares for you a lot!"

"I know. But he doesn't think about me the way I think about him!" Toph replied, tears welling up in her eyes.

"What?! Are you telling me Sokka would toss you over the side for one of those overly made up, fan-waving fangirl cosplayers??" an indignant Irma declared as a way of supporting her bender 'sister'. But she said it in a loud voice that the Kyoshi Warriors, camped nearby, could overhear.

Before Irma could continue with her rant, a fan sailed by her head and embedded itself into a tree!

"Okay, in their defense, that is one really sharp fan!" Irma stated, in a voice mixed with both fear and admiration.

Regaining her composure, Irma offered Toph her 'special services' "Hey, Toph, if you want, I can 'mindzap' Sokka!"

"Irma!" the prim and proper Katara recoiled. "There'll be no zapping of minds! We're all supposed to be friends here!"

"Jeez, relax! I was just joking!" Irma defended herself. "Sorry I said anything!"

Seeking to change the subject (and head off a fight), Toph observed "Well, at least I'm not the only one with boy problems!" She motioned towards where Aang was talking to Hay Lin.

"Huh?" retorted the clueless Katara. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing!" Toph smiled.

"Oh, you mean because Hay Lin has a boyfriend back home that she's having problems with?" Katara speculated.

Which made the other two girls laugh!

"Yeah, that's what we're talking about! Snort!" Toph teased.

Irma continued to snicker at the puzzled girl from the South Pole.

Angry at being left out of the joke, Katara railed "You know, that's not very funny!" and stormed off in a huff.

"Think we should tell her?" Toph asked Irma.

"Are you kidding me?" Irma replied. "Besides, Katara has to know how Aang feels about her! No one could be that dense! She's only playing dumb so no one makes a big deal out of it!"

"Uh, Irma?..." Toph hesitated to ask the question. "...Could you really 'mindzap' Sokka?"

ooooooooooooooo

"You've done well, son!" Chief Hakoda complimented his warrior offspring, as the Boulder, the Mechanist, the Kyoshi Warriors and other accomplished, talented benders and soldiers from far-off corners of the globe boarded the three ships that would take them all to the Fire Nation.

"Thanks, dad!" Sokka enjoyed the praise. It felt great working with his father! It was probably the happiest time of his life. Too bad Katara didn't enjoy it as much (Sokka didn't know what her problem was, and wasn't about to pry), and even sadder still that Toph had copped an attitude about his dad's little gaffe. But, Sokka had a job to do, and wasn't going to let anything deter him!

Then Hakoda pointed out a curious member of the freedom-loving band of brothers and sisters.

"Who...is that??" the Chief asked.

(And before you guess, it wasn't Huu, Due and Tho from the Foggy Swamp Tribe! That motley crew of water benders had demonstrated their worth to the Chief earlier).

"Oh, that's Mayor Tong from Avatar Town!" Irma helpfully pointed out. "He agreed to help us!"

"Er, Irma...Isn't he a convicted crook?" Sokka sternly inquired.

"He was! But after the cops dragged him off to Ba Sing Se for punishment, he convinced the Earth King he was innocent! We could use a slick talker like him!" the ebullient Irma illustrated.

"But why would a man like _that_...want to help us?" the puzzled Hakoda asked.

"It was easy!" the Water Guardian crowed. "After we told him no one in the Fire Nation would know his rep!"

"Ah. I see." Hakoda realized. A chance for a new start. It was one thing they all had in common.

Before departing, Aang spotted Katara lugging supplies aboard their sailing craft. He stopped near her, and was about to say something when she noticed him hovering around and innocently asked "Yes, Aang? What is it?"

Put on the spot, Aang stuttered and stumbled. "Er, ah..." The young Air Monk wanted to tell Katara he loved her, or kiss her, or _anything! _

But before he could do any of that, he spied Hay Lin in the distance. Thrown off his game, and suffering from a confused heart, Aang avoided the dilemma and said to the Water Tribe girl "Um, need any help carrying those provisions?"

_Next:_

_The Day of Black Sun!_

_Aang & Co. have cooked up some surprises for Fire Lord Zuko!_

_(The chapter is totally different from the TV episode. Better, too!)_

_Featuring the fight you've been waiting for - Toph vs. Cornelia!_

_Who will win the battle of the master earth bender vs. the non-bending Earth Guardian?_

_Plus: Fire Lord Zuko - powerless and cornered!_

_Or is he? Aang isn't the only one with a surprise up his sleeve!_

_And:_

_The death of you know who!_

Notes

Spiritcatchers are based on Native American Dreamcatchers. Except here they're metal, and unadorned. Iron is considered an 'anti-magic' metal in many cultures. So, charged with lightning, they make excellent snares for otherwordly energy beings like Spirits.

I like the Cornelia/Zuko dynamic in this chapter. Corny's playing the tragic, hardluck (and hard to get) heroine, while Zuko is her amorous and noble, yet flawed, pursuer (and I've never read a romance novel, swear to God!) But it's all an act. Both of them are merely pretending, assuming roles to get what they want. You'll see where that leads them in the next two chapters.

The kiss didn't happen until I wrote that exact moment leading up to it, when it became the most natural thing in the world and essential to the storyline. It was never my intention for Cornelia to have an affair with Zuko, and I even referenced the Zuko/Cornelia non-relationship in a later chapter (which will now have to be re-written).

I also like the fact that Cornelia's usually portrayed as the princessy type, but as soon as she's stuck in a real castle, she's more of a Princess Diaries girl. That is, someone out of place among royalty, someone who burps at the royal dinner table. People are complex, and frequently far more than they seem. But then, Cornelia did become a park ranger, which is a rather get-your-hands-dirty job, in a possible future in issue 50 of the W.I.T.C.H. comic. So my version of Cornelia, where she becomes a rebel and lives off the land with Jet, is not that much different from the creators' vision of the character. Although she wouldn't _want _to live as a hippie/counter-culturalist/non-material girl, she is capable of it. She has it in her to do that. And according to the notes on her posted by the publisher, Cornelia is supposed to be the 'rebel' of the group, although I think by that they meant the contrary one, the one who questions the actions of the others, particularly Will, the leader. All of which probably explains why she's the star of this story. She's the most interesting and conflict-driven Guardian (just as Zuko, the other star, is the most interesting/most conflicted of the Avatar cast), although Irma, Hay Lin and Taranee all have their moments (Will doesn't have much to do before the end of the tale, regretfully).

The song Cornelia hummed was one she had skated to in competition. It was from the soundtrack to _Walt Disney's Cinderella_ and is called Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo (also known as the magic song). According to a website, Disney music is popular among figure skaters, although I don't know if this particular tune is favored or not. I suppose the ending would be good for a skating finale, with jumps and double axels and salchows and whatnot. Or maybe only 8 year old figure skaters like it. Whatever the case, it's a peppy piece, and shows that Corny's plotting put her in a good mood. The _Cinderella _tie-in emphasizes the faux fairy tale nature of the story, with Cornelia in a Palace and involved with the ruler of the land. Although it's more of a fractured fairy tale, and darker than those bedtime stories.

Cornelia is said to be the confident Guardian, and I suppose that's true here, too. Who else would have the stones to pull off the scheme she cooked up in this chapter? But confidence can easily morph into stubbornness or overconfidence, with predictable, and unfortunate, results.

Hay Lin says 'yap' a lot in the comics, and I finally got it in here.


	5. Day of Black Son

**Author's Note: Here it is! The Day of Black Sun chapter! It's very different from **_**Avatar**_**'s DOBS, and lots more exciting, too! (IMHO, of course. But seriously, it's damn good, and the showcase fight, Toph vs. Cornelia, is excellent!) Also, after you read this, check out the companion tale over in the Avatar section, "Day of Black Sunlight". It tells the events of this story from the perspective of a troubled teen girl of the Fire Nation who meets her Guardian idol. **

**This chapter begins, as do the following chapters, with an ancient Avatar prelude. It's a short scene, and then the story picks up where it left off after the last chapter.**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

A Long, Long Time Ago...

_"Mghflk bztrdz" the bald, eating man uttered._

_"What was that, Avatar, sir?" the nervous, weaselly fellow inquired._

_"I said..." the angry man replied, expelling chunks of food at the one who interrupted his meal, "...Why are you bothering me when I'm trying to eat?!"_

_"Begging the Avatar's pardon, but please, sir! A vengeful Spirit in the woods near our village is stealing the faces of our people! We need your help!" beseeched the whiny chap, as he held up a hand to shield him from being pelted with chewed foodstuffs. Then he motioned to the other members of his party. "We beg of you, mighty Avatar! And we can pay you! Gold, or..."_

_Businessmen carrying chests opened them, displaying the riches inside. And this indeed caught the Avatar's eye. But not as much as the young women accompanying the businessmen and elders, most of whom giggled uncontrollably._

_"I see. Why didn't you say so?" The Avatar took one of the women by the hand._

_"But, but that's my wife!!" a businessman raged._

_"Quiet! Do you want the Spirit to destroy our town??" the meek leader of the group asked the upset husband._

_"No! Of course not!" the proud mate replied. Then he whispered "But why does he have to be such an asshole?"_

_"Have some respect. He is still the Avatar, after all. We cannot hope to judge his ways." the sycophantic chief of the delegation quietly pointed out. Then he turned to the Avatar and asked "So, will you help us?"_

_"Why not? There's nothing more for me here! And this snagglegrass soup is swill!" The nasty Avatar threw the bowl at the shop's proprietor, caking him with its contents, then marched out arm in arm with four of the prettiest women of the group._

_As they walked out of town, the Avatar and his desperate contingent passed a fire-breathing statue in the village square, in front of which stood a young man, barely out of his teens, who could only stare at such a curious sight, at such a curious soul._

Chapter 5: Day of Black Son

August 9th (The Day of Black Sun), a private room adjacent to the Throne Room of the Fire Nation Palace...

"You know, Cornelia, if the day goes well and we preserve the country, I'll take you to see your friend Will in person." Fire Lord Zuko pledged to the anxious Earth girl. "I've been working on a way to do it safely, and those efforts have finally shown some success!"

"That's wonderful!" Cornelia beamed. "Thank you! I knew you were a good man, Zuko!" she said, wrapping her arms around the hunky young ruler.

"It hasn't been easy! I thank you for your patience. It should all be over soon." Zuko warmly stated.

_You can say that again! _Cornelia thought to herself, as she flashed a plastic smile. Then she noticed Zuko gazing oddly at her. "What?" the curious Corny asked him.

"That sparkle in your eyes. It's so enchanting!" the teen Fire Lord sweet talked the girl Guardian.

"Stop! You'll make me blush!" she cooed.

Before either of them could take things any further, Zuko got down to business. "Okay, how do I do this?" he asked.

"Just hold the Heart in front of you and say 'Guardians unite'!" Cornelia revealed.

The Keeper of the Heart did as instructed, and in a flash of Candracan energy, the young lass from Heatherfield...changed!

Although she didn't grow, as the other Guardians did when they transformed (Cornelia could already do that), her clothes did morph. The fashion maven's stylish Fire Nation robes vanished, replaced by the long, teal and purple Guardian of Infinity costume that, due to circumstances, she hadn't worn in ages.

Even more impressive, she grew wings!

"Yes! Finally!!" Cornelia exulted. "This is wonderful! Woo-hoo!" she shouted in glee, as she took off from the Palace and flew around the capital city.

Her joy was infectious! Even the normally serious Zuko was affected. He smiled at seeing how happy Cornelia was soaring through the skies, in spite of himself. Then he remembered who he was, and why he was doing what he was doing, and his smile faded to nothingness.

ooooooooooooooo

August 9th, Fire Nation territorial waters...

In the Captain's cabin on the Allies' lead ship, Sokka detailed his invasion plan to his sire, and leader of the invasion forces, Chief Hakoda. "...So they'll never know we're here until it's too late!" Sokka finished his presentation, and awaited his father's judgment.

"It is a wonderful plan!" Hakoda complimented his only son.

"I know!" Sokka thrilled at his elder's approval. "And that's not even the best part! Heck, we had to do something special after the Earth Kingdom generals decided to take advantage of the eclipse to liberate the Colonies! Without their support, this is going to be tricky, but it's doable!"

"The generals decided a two prong strategy, with us invading the mainland, was the best course." the diplomatic Hakoda added. "How did you find this hidden cove?" he said, pointing to the Fire Nation map.

"It was easy, after we got full run of Wan Shi Tong's Spirit Library!" Sokka explained. "The Fire Nation destroyed their wing, but they neglected to burn the scrolls written by Avatars and travelers from the other nations who visited the Fire Nation! The cove was noted in one of those chronicles!"

"That's assuming, of course, that we can get past their sea defenses." the Chief brought the war discussion down to earth.

"That's where our secret weapon comes in!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Amazing! If we had resources like this 100 years ago, the Fire Nation would never have gotten as far as they did in their mad plans!" Hakoda observed.

"Yeah, well, I'd rather not dwell on the past, dad." Sokka sadly replied, remembering his mother, who died during a Fire Navy attack years ago on the South Pole.

"Of course, son! Of course." Hakoda placed an affectionate hand on his boy's shoulder. "Let's go up top. We should be close by now."

A sea breeze picked up, and visited all three ships. In reality, it was no breeze!

It was Hay Lin. An invisible Hay Lin, the Allies' secret weapon!

Unseen, she had flown ahead and snooped on the Fire Navy defense ships, stealing the classified passwords all Fire Nation vessels needed to safely pass the impregnable sea wall of the militaristic country.

There was only problem...

...The passwords were transmitted using fire bending!

As the lead ship approached the 'no man's zone', where the password had to be bent by fire lest the full might of the Fire Navy unload on any ship hapless enough to sail without clearance, Aang readied himself. He hadn't fire bended since he accidentally burned Katara, but he HAD to do it now! Everyone was counting on him!

He paused, remembered what fire bending Master Jeong Jeong told him, inhaled and let loose!

The fire he bent was erratic, and slightly off-course, but he did it! He bent the secret fire signal!

Of the two following Allied ships disguised as Fire Navy, the Mechanist's machines faked fire bending on one, and exploding earthworks (using spark rocks) bent by Haru helped the other ship through.

Thus granted safe passage, the three sloops full of invaders sailed to their meeting with destiny.

Plus one.

For you see, a stowaway was on board.

Cal!

Watching from his hiding place, the youngster eagerly awaited the chance to prove himself and do that which he knew he was sent there for.

ooooooooooooooo

Sailing around the much-protected harbor that led to the Fire Nation's capital city, the secret invaders floated upriver to the country's unguarded 'back door', a hidden cove surrounded by towering mountains.

It was also the place where the Fire Nation capital sent its pollution.

"Not another sewer!" complained Katara, recalling how they got into Omashu. "But if it's the only way..." she stoically stated.

"Have a little faith, Katara!" war planner Sokka interjected. "As sewers go, it's not that bad! I hear they've been cleaning things up lately! But we won't have to use it...If Toph can do her job?" he snidely said.

"I know what I have to do, Sokka!" spat Toph, still feuding with her 'boyfriend' but trying to set that aside so she could do her part for the war effort.

Sokka knew, from studying traveler's accounts of the Fire Nation, that the capital used ancient lava vents from its inactive volcano to send its sewage to the sea. Feeling the ground around her, master earth bender Toph searched for another vent they could use to, literally, enter the capital from the rear.

And she found it!

Moving earth to open an entrance to the vent, Toph created the path the invaders used to get past the defenses of the capital.

Sokka watched as the troops moved into the tunnel.

Aang, Katara and the North Pole Water Tribe water benders.

The earth tanks, manned by the earth benders Haru, his father Tyro, and the former Earth Rumble fighters.

The infantry (some of whom drove the Mechanist's wheeled vehicles), including Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, the South Pole Water Tribe warriors (led by his father, Chief Hakoda), the Foggy Swamp Tribe, various people from towns of the North, Central and South Earth Kingdom, and the freedom fighters - Pipsqueak, The Duke, and...

"Huh? Another one?" Sokka wondered as a second little guy trailed the forces he knew.

Pulling his hood off, Sokka saw who it was...

"Cal!!" Sokka yelled, in a voice full of shock and fear. "What are you doing here?? You're supposed to be with King Bumi!"

"I had to come, da-Sokka!" the hyperactive kid shouted. "You need me!"

"Why are you screaming like a little girl, Sok-..Cal! What are you doing here??" Toph went from shrewish 'wife' to ultra-concerned 'mom' in an instant!

"He stowed away, Toph!" Sokka answered her.

Marching the young boy (who now appeared to be slightly older, around nine years old, and a few inches taller) back to the ship, Sokka laid down the law. "The Mayor's staying behind to watch the ships, and that's where you'll be! Toph?"

Though they fought about most everything else, the two 'parents' were of one mind where Cal was involved. Without any discussion (for none was needed), Toph bent earth and metal to seal Cal safely away on the ship, leaving him a hole for fresh air.

"There! He'll be okay until we get back!" Toph commented.

"And if we don't get back?" Sokka darkly asked, his worrisome 'dad' nature in ascendancy.

"Don't be that way, Sokka!" Toph rejected the thought. Then she responded "If we don't get back, then the Fire Nation will find him and let him out! So don't worry!"

"Yeah, well, it's hard not to!" Sokka admitted, his duties as co-leader of the invasion and 'father' to a foundling weighing heavily on his mind.

Changing the subject (and pleased to be able to talk once again with Toph!) Sokka said "So, Toph, think we'll be able to pull this off?"

"Sure!" the blind earth bender confidently stated. "Especially if we can find Taranee and Cornelia, and convince them to join us!"

Recognizing the name, the imprisoned Cal finally remembered who he was and shouted "Cornelia?? Golden hair...Cornelia has golden hair!! Toph! Sokka! Wait!! She's the one I've been sent to find! **Tophhhhh!!**" he screamed.

"You hear anything?" Toph, unsure if she was doing the right thing, and with her unease making her nauseous, sought guidance from her 'hubby'.

"No." Sokka sternly said, as he pulled his war wolf hood onto his head. "Let's go."

The two concerned 'parents' entered the mountain, then Toph sealed the entrance behind them.

In that moment, the stage was set. It was too late. For Cal. For Toph. For Cornelia. For Sokka. For them all.

ooooooooooooooo

High above the outlying suburbs of the capital city soared the usually earthbound Cornelia Hale.

She was far from the best flier (of all the Guardians, Hay Lin was, due to her air ability), but that didn't appear to be the case today, as she darted and weaved through the air, surprising the Fire Nation people she knew with a friendly dive towards them and a wave hello.

Cornelia was clearly enjoying herself! She never got to revel in her Guardian abilities back home in Heatherfield, where the magic she and the other girls possessed was a big secret, so she enjoyed letting loose. She didn't believe the Avatar would actually invade the country, so she spent the time supposedly 'on patrol', although she was really indulging her itch to sightsee.

And then a huge boulder sailed out if the sky and flattened an empty yaksheep cart!

"What the??" Cornelia wheeled around, saw the huge rock on the destroyed cart and then, in the distance...Smoke rising from the capital city!

Meanwhile, in the sky, the moon crept closer and closer to the sun.

ooooooooooooooo

From seemingly out of nowhere, the invaders and their tanks, infantry and motorized cavalry swarmed through the capital city!

The highly mobile shock troops led by the Avatar (Aang sailing through the air on his glider, Katara flying on Appa the sky bison, and the North Pole water benders, led by Master Pakku, riding the waves) first struck at the defenders of the city with air blasts and walls of water taken from the nearby canal!

The way thus cleared, they were quickly followed by the earth tanks, which shot large boulders at the city's mechanized defenses, most of which, luckily, were still pointing toward the harbor, so the earth benders manning the tanks had little trouble taking them out!

Then the tanks set their sights on the Royal Palace itself!

However, some of the boulders they shot at the Palace went wide of the mark, and landed somewhere beyond it.

But many hit their intended target, sending plumes of smoke and debris into the air!

Meanwhile, the troop transports of the Allies disgorged the non-bender infantry (including Sokka, the Kyoshi Warriors, Chief Hakoda and his South Pole soldiers, as well as others) and the bloody street-to-street fighting began!

Even without an eclipse, the Allies were winning! They had bypassed the heavily fortified Royal Plaza, and had caught the Fire Nation 'with their pants down'!

When the Fire Army forces re-grouped and sent their fire benders into the fray, they were beaten back by a combined air, earth and water assault!

Meanwhile, the swordsmen and other expert weaponeers of the Nation had to contend with the battle-tested warriors of the South Pole Water tribe, including Sokka with his mighty warclub, and the Kyoshi Warriors with their fighting fans of fury!

All of which was but a prelude to the main course - Toph!

The awesome earth bender followed the others and pitched in when they appeared to be in trouble.

When an attacking Fire Nation force threatened a detachment of Allies, Toph, with one stamp of her feet upon the ground, caused a rolling earthwave that scattered enemy troops like tenpins!

Bringing up the rear, the water benders Huu, Due and Tho from the Foggy Swamp Tribe protected the Allied army from sneak attack, and ensured the escape route (if needed) was clear.

For Sokka, though the fight wasn't over, it was clearly shaping up to be a stunning military victory! He had sought only an opportunity to prove himself and avenge his people, but had achieved far more! The Water Tribe teen had orchestrated an incredible invasion! Never before in recorded history had anyone struck so deeply at the heart of the Fire Nation!

As amazing as the battle was, in reality it was merely a distraction.

You see, Sokka learned, from perusing rare, ancient scrolls, that when the capital is attacked, the royal family withdraws to a hidden bunker in the inactive volcano.

Which was where the other two members of the invasion force were. The _real _invaders!

ooooooooooooooo

Beneath the waves, two non-natives of the Fire Nation traveled unseen in an air bubble up the channel that led to the harbor of the capital city.

They had passed the fearsome Dragon Gates, unnoticed, around the same time the invasion force began their assault of the city.

With the capital's defenders thus occupied, no one saw the sphere emerge from the water and disgorge two elementals.

The duo then made their way to the inactive volcano and stealthily gained entrance to the passageways that led to the hidden bunker the Fire Nation believed was secret, avoiding guard patrols all the way. This was not difficult since, as the bunker was known to only a select few, and their land was under attack, most of the guards were diverted to military duty.

Finally, as the moon blocked the sun, beginning the eclipse, the two crafty invaders located their prey.

"This is it, Zuko! It's over!" one of the two infiltrators loudly announced as the pair blew open a heavy stone door and leapt into the command post of the leader of the Fire Nation. "Time to face me!" insisted the brash elemental, as the entrance was 'bent' shut behind them, denying their target any chance of escape or rescue.

"Excuse me?" the bored Fire Lord, slouched on his secondary throne, wearily said. "Do you have an appointment?"

ooooooooooooooo

The Allies were winning the fight!

Every time the Fire Nation army tried to mount an assault of the invaders, they were beaten back by the battle-tested warriors of the Water Tribe and Kyoshi Island!

Then the Nation sent out their cavalry, soldiers on Komodo Rhino and Mongoose Dragon!

But after the air bender and water benders knocked the ferocious animals over, the earth benders speedily constructed makeshift rocky prisons to hold the beasts.

The Fire Nation countered with their heavy ordnance, iron-plated battle tanks with cannons that shot fire!

The blasts scattered the Allies' troops!

For a moment, anyway.

Because then Toph moved in.

Toph, the metal bender!

Focusing her chi, the blind ex-bandit sensed where the metal tanks were, then ripped them apart!

Suddenly, the eclipse began, and the Allies put the special protective eclipse sun glasses devised by the Mechanist over their eyes.

Bereft of their natural fire bending abilities, many in the Fire Army turned tail!

The Allies had the Fire Nation on the run!

Then, movement in the sky caused everyone (well, almost everyone! Not Toph, of course), to look up.

"Taranee?" said the puzzled Sokka, squinting at the sun's corona even with his special glasses on.

But it wasn't the winged Fire Guardian!

From out of the shaded sun flew...

"It's Cornelia!" shouted Sokka.

"She flies now?? And I thought an earth bender ice skater was weird!" Toph wryly commented.

The Allies drew nearer to the flying girl, friend to the Avatar's group, and Aang eagerly soared toward her!

Without warning, giant plants and vines shot up from the ground and grabbed at every member of the Allied army!

Even the gliding Aang and the airborne Katara astride Appa!

The vines squeezed tight, and most of the Allies were soon unconscious! The startled air bender also fell victim to the lightning-swift botanical barrage! Appa got away, but his passenger was pulled from his saddle! The megastrong vines, some as wide as a truck, wrapped the earth tanks in their terrible tendrils, immobilizing them!

Only Toph, who could sense the growth of the plants underground, was able to avoid the grasping greenery!

Jumping over the spiraling shoots, the master earth bender, moving too swiftly for the Earth Guardian to grab with her telekinesis, ran through the instant growth jungle and arrived at the side of the person she cared for most. Quickly, she handed him a sword.

"Toph, I didn't plan for this!" Sokka said as he hacked his way to freedom, the angry, airborne Guardian of Earth drawing ever nearer to their position.

"Leave it to me!" Toph assured him. "Maybe she didn't recognize us?"

"What do you think you're doing, Toph?!" Cornelia Hale raged.

"Uh oh." Sokka uttered.

ooooooooooooooo

"Don't get cute, Zuko! It's me against you, winner ends the war, or continues it!" the challenger to the Fire Lord declared.

But Zuko was nonchalant.

"You're serious?? And what if I don't fight you?" Zuko offered.

"You'd forfeit? Then you'd lose, I'd declare the war over and the Fire Nation would have to leave the Earth Kingdom!" the intruder confidently stated.

"Mm-hmm." the Fire Lord ignored the pair of invaders to his hidden sanctuary and calmly nibbled on a firecake. "And how long would that last until I'm deposed and someone far worse takes over as Fire Lord and starts another war?"

"Well, then…" the Fire Lord's opponent was momentarily struck speechless. "Dammit, Zuko, if you knew it was this complicated, why'd you walk out of the peace conference? We could have resolved everything there!"

"Sorry." Zuko blithely replied. "I had other plans. Spicy mint?" he offered the fight-ready duo.

"He's wasting our time!" the second opponent angrily interjected. "Let's kick his butt and end this! It's over, Zuko!" she shouted. "Your mad dreams of conquest end here!"

"Excuse me? You invaded my nation, not the other way around!" Zuko calmly pointed out.

"Errr…" the air elemental began, not quite sure how to respond to the fire leader's obvious logic.

"Don't let him fool you! It was his men that attacked the peace conference!" the water elemental argued.

"You can't prove that." Zuko casually replied, as he sipped a small glass of fire ale.

"See?" She seized on the point. "He practically admits it! He's stalling for time, until the eclipse is over and he gets his fire bending back!"

"No, I'm not stalling. I really was curious how you would justify your actions." Fire Lord Zuko commented.

"Let's go, Zuko! You're our prisoner! Now take us to our friends!" the water girl demanded. "Don't even think about fighting us! You couldn't beat both Aang and I, even **if **you had your powers!" Irma Lair boasted.

(That's right! It was Aang and Irma confronting the Fire Lord! But then, who led the invading army??)

"Although I wouldn't mind it if you tried!" the grinning Irma added, jets of water pulsing between her fingertips, as she recalled how she made the hated fire bender suffer in their previous battle.

"Let's say I abdicate and quit being Fire Lord. Then what? My generals fight over who gets to be the next Fire Lord and tear the country apart?" Zuko challenged his adversaries.

"No! We could…Hold elections! Yeah!" Irma suggested, quite proud of having an intelligent answer to a tough question for once.

"Wow. You really are the dumb one, aren't you?" Zuko sneered at the Guardian girl's naiveté. Democracy was unknown in the Fire Nation, which had always been ruled by a strong leader.

"Grrr!" Irma angrily barked. "We're not that stupid!! We caught **you**, didn't we?"

"Yes, you did." Zuko admitted. "Hmmm, curious. I thought the Avatar was leading the invasion?"

"We totally tricked you! We knew you'd run away and hide here, and now we got you!" the Water Guardian smiled at their winning strategy.

"Oh, I see! The air girl!" Zuko said, snapping his fingers. "A good trick. And one good trick deserves another!"

Upon hearing the Fire Lord's signal (the finger snapping), wall panels on both sides of the Fire Nation leader opened, revealing...

"Yu Yan Archers!! It's a trap!" Aang yelled.

ooooooooooooooo

"I didn't want to believe it, but Zuko was right! You attack innocent people for no reason!" Cornelia, the highly indignant Earth Guardian, accused Toph Bei Fong and her fellow invaders of war crimes as she hovered in the sky above the plant-trapped Allied army and the still-free Toph and Sokka.

"Innocent?! This is the Fire Nation! They're guilty as sin!" Toph spat back, defending her and the Allies' actions.

"The people of the Fire Nation are under my protection!" the Guardian of Earth proclaimed. "Stop this insane invasion and give up, Toph, and I'm sure Zuko will be merciful! Aang's defeated! You can't win now!" Corny claimed.

"That wasn't Aang! That was Hay Lin, who came here to rescue you! And we're not about to surrender to the oh so 'merciful' Fire Nation!" the stubborn Toph declared, unwittingly saying too much.

"What?! You made me hurt my friend?!" The horrified Guardian flew to the side of the passed out Keeper of Air, still in the grip of a flailing monster vine, and turned her over. Though the unconscious girl wore Aang's red and orange Air Monk robes, sported air bender tattoos, and had cut off all her hair (including her pigtails!) so she could pass for the Air Nomad Avatar, she was unmistakably Cornelia's lifelong companion! "That's it! If you won't end this stupid war willingly, I'll end it for you!" the seething Guardian of Earth bitterly promised the earth bender.

"You and what army?" Toph, feeling impervious to Corny's powers after she survived the plant bender's initial assault, dared the blonde, throwing in a jeering reference to the Fire Nation army the Allies had crushed.

"I don't need an army!" the Candracar-powered Cornelia confidently stated.

"Uh oh." Sokka didn't like the sound of that! "Toph?!"

"I can take Miss Uppity Earth!" Toph boasted. "I'm the greatest earth bender ever! I can even bend metal now!"

"Really?" Cornelia wickedly smiled. "Well, I can bend, oh, let's see…Everything!!"

With a wave of the Earth Guardian's hand, debris of every conceivable type (wood, metal, pottery, paper, glass, concrete, you name it!) rained down upon the two Allied warriors!

"Oh yeah." Sokka cried, as he sought shelter from the sh-t storm. "_Definitely_ did not plan for this!"

ooooooooooooooo

Reacting as fast as thought, the young air bender shot a blast of air at the Yu Yan archers' flying arrows, knocking them to the floor!

But there were too many of the skilled bowmen! Quickly, Aang grabbed Irma and dodged both of them away from the deadly shafts!

The elemental duo escaped into the passageway, the archers close behind, nipping at their heels!

Suddenly, a contingent of Yu Yan soldiers appeared in front of them! With escape the way they came blocked, and arrows whizzing by their heads, Aang and Irma ducked through an open door!

And right into...

...Nothingness?

Though naught was around them, in what appeared to be an empty, bottomless shaft in the earth, the two freedom fighters found they couldn't move!

Aang tried to bend what little air was in the chamber, but when he did so he and his companion began to choke!

Though the walls were made of stone and volcanic rock, they were too distant for Aang to affect with his earth bending.

Then a section of wall fell away, revealing a glass window!

Irma began humming a tune.

_Doom doom doom doom do do doom do do doom_

"What's that?" Aang asked.

"It's from _Star Wars_. It's the music they play when the bad guy makes his entrance. We're going to see who's really behind this mess! I bet it's Phobos!" Irma, though both she and Aang were caught like flies in a giant spider's invisible web, kept things light. "There's no way Zuko came up with all this on his own! He's not that smart!"

"I don't know about that. And remember, he did have help. Like your two friends." Aang darkly commented.

"Don't remind me!" Irma bitched.

"What I mean is, who knows who else is helping him? Or just how much he can do with that Heart thing your friend Will used to have?" Aang mentioned.

"Wait! Someone's coming!" Irma bellowed, upon noticing a moving shadow behind the glass.

Anticipation roiled their blood! The two trapped elementals strained their necks to see who it was!

"Oh. It's only Zuko." a very unimpressed Irma Lair sighed.

"Is that an attempt at humor?" Zuko was not amused. "You won't find anything to laugh about here. You're caught in a Spiritcatcher." he said, speaking through a sound tube that ran from the observation booth to the vacuum cell.

"What??" Aang yelped. "That can't be! Spiritcatchers are a myth!!"

"Oh, they're very much real. People used them long ago to trap Spirits, until the Spirits turned the tables and eliminated anyone who knew how to make them. Didn't you ever wonder why the Spirits avoid people?" The Fire Lord expounded on the subject, then coldly stated the two heroes' predicament. "You're in the new and improved version, which works just as well holding Avatars. Among others." Zuko sneered at the troublesome Guardian of Water as he said those last two words. "Get used to it! You're going to be here a long time!"

"You're not going to get away with this, Zuko!" Irma screamed.

But the dour Fire Lord ignored the hot-blooded Water Guardian, turned his back on his adversaries, mumbled something about "...finally be able to regain everything that was taken from me..." and left the glass-enclosed observation room.

"What was that about??" Aang wondered.

"Who knows? Zuko's nuts! He chased you around the world because he wanted to 'restore his honor', right? So we know he's not dealing with a full deck!" Irma delivered her ill-tempered assessment of the Fire Nation ruler's mental state. "I'm more concerned with how we're going to get out of here!"

"How can we??" a depressed Aang observed. "There aren't any elements to bend!"

Irma ruefully ruminated on the great plan they had to stop Zuko.

She had remembered what Will said, how Zuko controlled the Heart of Candracar through his fire bending, and theorized (correctly, as it turned out) that, if he's unable to bend fire during the eclipse, Zuko wouldn't be able to use the power of the Heart, either. A wonderful plan, right? But it was all for naught. Zuko had been two steps ahead of them the entire time!

As the Guardian of Water and the Avatar hung helplessly in the empty space, a despairing Irma feared what other nasty surprises cruel fate doubtlessly had in store for her.

ooooooooooooooo

The shower of debris, driven by the mad as heck Cornelia, continued to fall from the sky!

The torrential blizzard of loose materials blanketed the area where moments before Toph and Sokka stood. Nothing could be seen. Could anyone survive such an onslaught?

When the storm subsided, a small structure stood on the landscape.

An earth shelter!

Toph emerged unscathed, followed by Sokka, and taunted the girl from Heatherfield "That all you got, ice princess?"

"Oh, I've got a lot more than that!" the hovering Cornelia tersely replied.

It was on!

Cornelia versus Toph!

It was an awesome battle, this contest of wills and powers, of Earth Guardian of Infinity vs. master earth bender of the Earth Kingdom.

"Just guide my aim, Snoozles!" the blind earth bender bade her battle companion. "I'll take it from there!"

Though sightless, Toph was aided by Sokka, who told her where to send successive columns of rock into the air to strike at the sky-soaring Cornelia, who used her wings to dodge the earthen missiles.

Corny then countered with her own wave of rolling earth!

An attack easily parried by the earth-sensitive Bei Fong lass!

But it was merely a distraction! With a wave of her hand, Cornelia Hale made the ground around Toph sink, then telekinetically commanded another section of pavement to seal the hole in the earth. She buried Toph!

But the girl who learned earth bending from badgermoles in her garden would not quit! Toph used her abilities to burrow out!

This earth-sparring continued unabated during the eclipse, and through it all, the two earth-powered elementals just couldn't shut up!

"How can you claim to be here to 'rescue us' when you attack innocent people?" Cornelia raged. "I know why you're here! For 'the glory of combat' or some kind of craziness like that! 'I must defeat the Fire Lord to achieve my destiny'!" she said, making fun of Aang's distinctive dialect as she wrapped an airborne tree around the blind Earth Kingdom lass. "How can you invade a country when they're defenseless?"

"That's probably the best time! Unff!!" Toph strained, as she bent rock in the space between her body and her bonds, steadily expanding the stony carapace until the tree limbs holding her shattered into tiny bits.

"How can you be so cruel and heartless?" the floating Cornelia retorted.

"We're cruel?" Toph spat, rejecting the insinuation. "If Zuko wants peace so much so much, why doesn't he leave the occupied Earth Kingdom?" she debated, sending a fusillade of earth into the air, towards the sound of Cornelia's voice. The attack was broad enough that she didn't need to know precisely where the Guardian was.

"There are thousands of citizens of the Fire Nation living in the Colonies! You can't expect them to just pick up and leave in a snap! Something like that takes time!" Corny argued, ordering a solid shield of plants to spring up from the ground below. "That's what negotiations are for! Which your side refused!"

"Yeah, well, we don't negotiate with crooks!" Toph shot back. As she spoke, the girl from the Earth Kingdom town of Gaoling sent jagged, razor-sharp rocks barreling into the plant growth, slicing them to pieces!

"Why are we even arguing about this? Like my Uncle says, it's 'beyond my pay grade'!" Cornelia darkly commented, her frustration nearly causing her to jet straight into the defiant scion of the family of the flying boar! However, Sokka remained nearby, and Cornelia reasoned this was no time to give up her advantage in the air. Instead, she telekinetically blasted another wave of soil, rock, plant and debris at the battling Bei Fong girl.

"Shield!" Sokka cried.

"What?" a bemused Toph responded. "Oh." She got the idea, and pulled an earthen barrier up from the ground just in time!

"He works for the government." Cornelia clarified. "It's an expression!" The Earth Guardian then commanded thick vines from afar (whose vibrations Toph couldn't feel) to sail through the air and strike at Toph!

"I was talking to Sokka! Whatever!" Toph snapped. "But you are right about one thing. We've already made our choice! Too bad you made the wrong one!" she declared, hopping from one rising stone column to another in a successful attempt to evade Corny's hunter-like plant stalks!

"If protecting the people I care about is wrong, then I'm wrong! But so are you!" the flying Cornelia shouted as she moved both her hands together in preparation for her final assault on the multi-talented earth bender.

"Stop, Plant Spirit! You can't do this!" yelled a seaweed-covered..._thing._

ooooooooooooooo

"It's no use!" Aang, unable to move in the empty air, moaned. "Even my Avatar State doesn't work in this place!"

"Avatar State? Is that like Arizona?" the clueless Irma babbled a silly joke.

"What??" Aang uttered in reply.

"Never mind!" the frustrated Irma Lair retorted. _No one on this world ever gets my jokes! Okay, that wasn't my best stuff, but still..!_

"What the? Huh. That's weird!" Irma commented after sensing sparks of electrified ions on her skin. "It feels like Zuko is holding us with electromagnetics or something!"

"What's 'electromagnetics'?" Aang asked.

"I learned about it in science class." Irma continued. "Teach said there were four forces..."

"Like the four elements?" Aang wondered.

"Sort of. But different." Irma struggled to recall the lecture. "There's electromagnets, gravity, nuclear energy, and the weak something. It was kind of confusing! Um, I'm not exactly the best student. Sorry, Aang!"

"That's okay, Irma." Aang sighed.

"But the strange thing is, that's Einstein stuff! Zuko shouldn't even know about it!" the Guardian of Water complained.

"Do you think he's using Will's Heart to do it?" the Avatar speculated.

"I don't know. I thought the eclipse would have zapped his power over the Heart just as it took away his fire bending, so I have no idea what's going on!" Irma gave her analysis of the grim situation they found themselves in.

"So..." Aang postulated his own theory. "...Someone has to be helping Zuko. Maybe someone from your world, like that Phobos guy?"

"No. Phobos isn't from our world. And he doesn't know anything about science!" Irma pointed out.

"If Zuko is using this 'science' stuff like you said, is there anyway to use it against him?" Aang brightened at his cleverness! Maybe there was hope for them after all, and they wouldn't have to hang for months in a near-vacuum!

"Ah, Aang?" Irma hesitated to remind the young air bender. "Not the best student, remember?"

"Oh. Right. Yeah. Sorry." the depressed Avatar replied.

ooooooooooooooo

"The Lady of the Swamp sent me to find you!" said the huge, walking plant. "She can help you, Plant Spirit!"

"Who is this?? And since when do plants talk?!" the puzzled Cornelia asked. She _telepathically _spoke to plants, true, but the green things of the world had no vocal cords!

"That's Huu, from the Foggy Swamp Tribe." Toph helpfully explained, briefly stopping their fight. "He's not really a plant."

Then Huu poked his head out. "The Lady told me your energies are out of balance. You need to visit her." Huu implored, while his water-driven vines carried him closer to the scene of Cornelia and Toph's battle, next to the plant 'prison' that held the other members of the invasion force in an unbreakable grip.

Cornelia hesitated. Not knowing of the water bender origin of the abilities Huu displayed, she thought _Could he have powers like me?_

Taking advantage of the distraction, a member of the North Pole's Water Tribe who had wormed his way out of the clutches of Corny's plants let fly his war club at the tempting target!

Sensing something behind her, Corny pivoted in midair and saw the danger zooming towards her!

By simply waving her arm, Cornelia boomeranged the club back to its owner!

With a "Unh!!", the beaned tribesman fell unconscious onto the base of the plant stalk that was as wide a bus.

"I see what you're doing, Toph!" the quick-thinking Guardian shouted. Then she commanded the vines leave Huu's body. Which they did, as the Foggy Swamp denizen had no real control over them after the water inside drained out.

"I knew it! It was all a trick!!" the girl from Heatherfield, who had suffered various indignities and injustices while in the Avatar's world, railed. "He's no 'plant bender'!"

"I never said he was!!" Toph angrily replied.

"Whatever! I've had enough!" Cornelia snapped. "Time to end this!!"

"Plant Spirit! Please!! You don't know what you're doing!!" Huu begged.

The sky-high Cornelia Hale, Earth Guardian of Infinity, ignored the desperate swamp denizen's plea and concentrated. She brought her hands together, then slowly moved them apart.

And so, by using all her Candracar-given power, she created a crack in the earth.

A crack that grew and grew until it swallowed all of the Allies!

Even Toph!

Though she had mastery over the earth, the blind bender found it impossible to control that element when it disappeared beneath her feet!

ooooooooooooooo

Trapped in a near airless, empty void, our two heroes pondered what awaited them and the people they loved.

"I've got a bad feeling, Aang!" Irma sadly reported. "If Zuko was prepared for us, what about the others?"

"They have to be okay!" Aang prayed. "Zuko's after me, remember? He's not going to hurt anyone else!" He hoped!

"Unless...He planned to use them against you?" Irma darkly speculated. And instantly regretted it. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that!"

"All that means is, it's even more important that we get out of here!" Aang exclaimed.

And then, a glint of light! In the distance, something sparkled!

It had taken Irma Lair's eyes time to adjust to the dim light of their empty prison. So she saw the flash of light, and said "I, I can see something! Like, threads in the air!"

"So Zuko's holding us in some sort of field?" Aang theorized.

"Yep. That Spiritcatcher thing. Remember?" Irma reminded him.

"There has to be some way to disrupt it!" Aang hopefully declared.

"How? You yourself said you couldn't bend anything in here!" Irma wailed. "What I don't get is, how does Zuko plan on keeping us? Sure, we're trapped now, but what about when we have to eat or, you know, _go_?"

"You're right!" Aang eagerly agreed. "And our friends will try to rescue us! Even my enemies might try!"

"Huh?" uttered Irma. _Why would Aang's enemies free him??_ she thought to herself.

"Long story!" Aang replied, referring to the time the Blue Spirit saved him from Zhao. "Anyway, Zuko knows how hard it is to keep an air bender hostage! He can't really think this is going to work, does he? I don't care how many 'science' things he uses!"

Then it hit Irma like a ton of water! "Oh. Wait! I'm such a dummy!" she yelped.

"What? What is it?" the curious air bender wanted to know.

"I'm not a bender!!" Irma proudly declared.

"You mean..." Aang put two and two together. He could scarcely believe his good fortune! "...You can make enough water to get us out of here?"

"Can I?" the Water Guardian boasted. "You should see what I did to my house once! I practically created a lake in it!"

"Really??" Aang was impressed.

"Well, maybe not a lake _exactly_. More like a swamp. But it was a lot of water!" Irma clarified.

Then she concentrated.

"Wow. This is harder than I thought!" Irma voiced her difficulty in controlling her element in such an odd place.

"Maybe this spiritcatcher thing is interfering..." the Avatar suggested.

"Ah, interference shminterference!" Irma tried her best to ignore the throbbing pain in her temples as she attempted to command the water in the air, the life-giving element present in all living things. "Come on, come on!" she pep-talked herself.

"Uh, Irma...What is _that_?" Aang pointed out.

It was a hole in space! A...

"A portal??" Irma was dumbfounded! Why would there be a portal here?? "Oh, this is SO not good!" she cried.

ooooooooooooooo

The fissure in the earth crafted by Cornelia was deep and dark, with massive, unscalable sides. Not that climbing up was an option; There was barely space at the top to allow light in. So there was no way to get out!

In short, it was a terrifying display of the Earth Guardian's power!

Not that this stopped Toph from trying!

With great determination, she bent a tunnel through the solid ground, the boy warrior Sokka right behind her.

Finally, Toph Bei Fong burst thru the earthen tomb, tasted the sweet air of freedom...

"Toph! Wait!" Sokka screamed.

...and promptly fell!

"Whoaaa!!" she screamed.

Luckily, Sokka managed to grab her ankle! In an impressive display of his growing strength, the young warrior reeled her back onto the 'ground' and flipped her - right side up!

Because, you see, while the Allies were trapped underground, the Earth Guardian separated Toph's earthen prison from the surface, levitated it and turned it upside down!

Now blind Toph and disoriented fellow freedom fighter Sokka stood on a piece of rock floating high in the air!

A short distance in front of them (but with a doozy of a drop in between) hovered the triumphant Guardian of Candracar, Cornelia Hale.

"Give up, Toph! You can't win! You're too far off the ground!" the smirking, gloating Guardian of Earth spelled out the earth bender's impossible situation. "And a fall from this height would not be good. Although I would catch you...Probably." she mockingly sneered, issuing a threat made all the worse because it came with a heaping complement of smile, a fact even the the sightless Toph understood.

(Now, before you ask 'Why didn't Cornelia levitate Toph all by herself? That's how she beat the earth bender when they were in Placid Springs. Why float some rock with Toph standing on it??', consider Cornelia's strategic situation. Because she has. Cornelia is fighting more than one Earth Kingdom girl, after all. She's facing a whole army! And Toph is the most powerful member (absent Aang) of that army. If Cornelia spun Toph in the air like a pinwheel, the other Allied fighters would have taken it as a sign of disrespect, and probably started throwing things at the girl from another world. More than that, they'd keep fighting. But if Corny convinced Toph further conflict was pointless, that there was no way to beat her, than the rest would get the message and give up, too. Beat the alpha dog and the rest fall in line. Just like when Cornelia defeated Fire Lord Ozai! Although the blonde Heatherfieldian may be many things, dumb was not one of them. A princess? Hey, if the shoe fits! (Corny loved that joke in middle school!) Vain? Sure looks that way. Conceited? Maybe if you were good at something you'd feel the same way. Argumentative? She'd dispute that! But dumb? She's blonde, not stupid!)

In disconnecting Toph from her element of earth and trapping her on a piece of floating soil, Cornelia figured she had won the match.

But the former Earth Rumble champion wasn't about to concede defeat!

"The day I give you the satisfaction, Princess Floaty Butt, is the day I... " Toph began.

However, before she could continue her rant, Toph was pulled back.

By Sokka!

"Toph!" the South Pole Water Tribesman whispered excitedly. "The eclipse is almost over and Aang and Irma aren't back! Something must have gone wrong!"

"Yeah? What was your first clue?" the sarcastic Bei Fong girl replied. "The crazy plants or the flying??"

"Toph, we have to pull out before the Fire Nation Army regroups and picks us off one by one!" Sokka told her. "I think I can jump onto one of those giant vines and work my down into the hole you made and free our friends. All I need is a distraction!"

"You got it, Sokka!" Toph promised. "I'll hold her off!"

"Are you sure?" the concerned Water Tribe boy inquired. "She can fly! You couldn't beat Aang in the Earth Rumble when he flew through the air!"

"So?" a confident Toph cracked her knuckles. "That what makes it a challenge!"

"I can beat the pants off her! Or whatever it is she's wearing!" the former Blind Bandit boasted. "You go and get everyone out! I'll cover you!"

ooooooooooooooo

"A portal? What's that?" Aang inquired.

"A gateway to a place we DO NOT want to be, I'm guessing!" Irma answered. " I bet the eclipse is over and Zuko's using the Heart to create it!"

"Oh. So that's how he plans to trap us and keep us from our friends!" Aang glumly figured out.

"Yeah. The slimy snake really pulled out all the stops!" Irma Lair bitched. Creating water out of thin air wasn't as easy as it sounded, and Irma's brow feverishly sweated!

"Then...You better get us out of here! It's getting closer!!" Aang yelled.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!!" Irma countered. Though the Guardian of Candracar strained mightily, it wasn't happening!

_What did Katara say about water bending?_ Irma struggled to recall her one and only lesson with the master of the liquid element._ It's push and pull?_

Then, from literally nowhere, it began to rain!

A shower of water that first, drenched our heroes...

"How do you like sputt! that, Aang!" Irma exulted, her mouth filling with scores of the raindrops!

"Wow! That's pffttt! amazing!" Aang replied, spitting the droplets out!

...And then the massive downpour...

...short-circuited their 'spirit cage'!

**ZAPT BZZTT CRACKLE**

Which meant our two heroes had nothing to hold them up!

"Uh oh." Irma worried.

"Irma! Grab hold!!" Aang yelled, as he desperately reached for the Guardian of Water.

"Okay." Irma took the Avatar's offered hand. "But who's holding you??"

They dropped ten stories in the time it took to blink!

**Aaaaaaaa! **Irma screamed.

"Just enough...air to...Yes!" the falling Avatar cheered.

Aang gathered up what little air was in the chamber and used it to create a cushion at the bottom that arrested their rapid descent and kept them from going SPLAT all over the floor of the mountain's spirit room!

"Whew!" the much-relieved air bender vented. "Now let's get out of here!"

Before he ran off, however, he used his air powers to dry himself. With a WHOOSH, all the water on Aang flew off his body!

But the discarded water had to go somewhere.

In this case, all over Irma Lair!

"Hey! Watch it!!" she reflexively barked as she was drenched anew.

"Sorry." Aang apologized. "But it is your element. And it looks good on you!" The playful Avatar smiled as he spoke, hoping it would make his faux pas a little easier to take.

But Irma had a different reaction.

_What the? Is he hitting on me?? _the girl from Heatherfield wondered. And instantly rejected the thought. _Nah! He's just happy he's out of that thing! So am I! Besides, I don't look THAT good all wet! Do I? _She mulled it over as she fiddled with her now-ruined hairdo, pushing the dripping hair out of her eyes.

"Snap out of it, Irma!" Aang jerked the wet girl back to reality. "We still have to get out of here!" the air bender Avatar exclaimed as he took off in search of an exit from the inactive volcanic mountain.

"Oh! Right. Sure." Irma agreed, following close behind.

ooooooooooooooo

"You're in for it now, Corny!" Toph taunted the Guardian girl from her perch aboard the floating rock.

"Oh please! What can you do to me??" Cornelia dismissed Toph's trash talking. "And don't call me 'Corny'!"

"You asked for it!!" Toph exclaimed.

Toph stamped one bare foot on her hovering stone 'ship', and bent a shower of loose rocks directly at Cornelia!

With predictable results!

"Stop this, Toph!" Cornelia howled, waving her hand to re-direct the brazen barrage!

While the great mass of rocky projectiles were deflected, a few, the smallest of the lot, got through and harmlessly impacted on the Earth Guardian's Candracar costume. And then the pebbles...bounced back to the earth bender.

"You can't win!" Cornelia confidently stated. "What are you going to do, use up your entire platform against me in a useless attempt to knock me off? It won't work!" the annoyed Guardian, who considered herself 'Queen of the Hill', added.

"Something like that." Toph snarkily replied.

The blind tween then gathered up the mass of the levitating land, converted it into earth 'armor' that covered her entire body, pushed against the sliver of remaining ground beneath her feet and launched herself at the airborne Earth Guardian!

"What the heck are you...?" Cornelia gasped.

"Hi, Corny!" Toph teased, as the boulder-like 'guided missile' arced on a direct collision course with the Guardian from Heatherfield.

Cornelia was shocked! (To put it mildly!)

"Are you crazy??" she uttered.

Then, with a slight movement of her hands, the Guardian of Earth telekinetically sent the armored earth bender crashing into the city pavement!

"Well, that was stupid!" Cornelia commented on her suicidal opponent.

But it wasn't a dumb move at all. The well-educated girl was simply unaware of Toph's tactics.

Cornelia may have had book smarts, but the home-schooled Toph learned from everything around her!

And just as Hay Lin earlier used 'sonar' to find Appa, Toph's 'groundar' enabled her to pinpoint her flying target, Cornelia Hale.

She first used this information for her ill-fated assault on the uber-powerful Earth Guardian.

Then, as Toph sailed toward her blonde target, she released a series of small pebbles at Cornelia that ricocheted off the oblivious non-bender and revealed her location to the vibration-sensing Earth Kingdom girl.

So, Toph was now 'stuck' on the ground (with a limitless supply of 'ammo') and knew where her flying foe was!

What happened next wasn't pretty!

Toph threw everything she had against the shocked Guardian of Earth, who had thought herself secure and above the fray.

An all-out earth attack of rock, boulder, rising stone column, soil and even some of the metal tanks!

Cornelia certainly had her hands full as she dodged and weaved through the air, trying to stay one step ahead of the relentless earth bender, who utilized her 'groundar' to keep apprised of the Earth Guardian's shifting position!

While the battle of the earth elementals raged on, Sokka worked to free his brother and sister freedom fighters from the pit Cornelia had stuck them in.

Luckily, the riderless Appa had returned. His sheer animal brawn proved crucial in dislodging the heavy rocks and grasping vines that held fast the Allied warriors.

Soon, many were free on the surface. Most pitched in to help extricate the remaining Allies, a number of whom were still unconscious, stuck below the ground. The rest, feeling a bit outclassed due to the raw display of power, were content to watch 'the show'.

When Toph grew tired of pinpoint attacks, she would send a wave of earth barreling in the general direction of the winged Guardian, a wave that Cornelia parted so it traveled around her harmlessly.

Cornelia also had little trouble defending herself against the larger projectiles. She merely flicked then away with a snap of the wrist or even sent them rocketing back at her harasser!

However, Toph knew that.

So she also sent plenty of smaller objects at the harried Guardian!

"Ow!" Cornelia yelped in pain as she used her outstretched palm to swat away a golf ball-sized rock before it hit her face. "Stop this, Toph! Don't force me to..."

"But I'm not finished!" quipped the irksome earth bender. "I still haven't shown you my best stuff!"

Then Toph Bei Fong stamped her foot on the ground and it rose up into the air!

Followed by several other rock towers!

They formed a ring around the embattled Guardian of Earth!

"This is it?? This is all you got??" the floating Cornelia jeered. "Toph?"

But the blind bender was nowhere in sight!

Then rock hands reached out of the stone column behind Cornelia and grabbed her legs!

"Gotcha!" Toph yelled triumphantly, yanking the girl Guardian from the sky!

Cornelia fell - hard and facefirst - onto a rocky skyscraper!

"Oofff!!" she cried.

Far below, the Allied warriors cheered their champion!

(Mostly. Some, like Hay Lin, were still passed out. Others, like Huu, felt a sense of dread).

"THAT. IS. IT!!" Cornelia bitched, her cheeks flush with anger, her face pockmarked with dirt, her hair a matted mess.

Whereupon she flew off, to the mountain in the distance, leaving observers on the ground puzzled.

ooooooooooooooo

Unfortunately for Aang and Irma, all exits were blocked!

Going down to the ground floor of the mountain was impossible! There were guards and fire benders and archers all over!

So the air and water duo fled upstairs!

And they did find an unguarded exit...

...Thousands of feet above sheer, rocky cliffs!

"There's nowhere to run." Fire Lord Zuko solemnly intoned, as he and his men cut off Aang and Irma's access to the mountain's maze of passageways, trapping them on the high plateau. "Give up now, and I'll go easy on your friends!" he threatened.

Aang hesitated. _What? Zuko captured the others?? _he worried. _No! It's a lie! If he had them, he'd show me! _Aang knew he couldn't submit to the Fire Lord, no matter what! There was something way wrong about Zuko and this whole spiritcatcher situation! The battle-weary Avatar had to escape! Which wouldn't be a problem. Though Aang wasn't nearly as good as as Toph when it came to earth bending, he wouldn't have to use that element to descend. No, he could rely on good 'ol air bending to run down the mountain! However, there was ONE little snag in his plan…

"Irma!" Aang cried. "If I try to take you with me, we could both fall down the mountain! I'm sorry, but..." Aang had a horrible decision to make! There was only one thing to do!

ooooooooooooooo

With the last of the freedom fighters safely out of the pit, Sokka's attention turned to Toph's tussle with Cornelia. And he didn't like what he saw!

"You say you're the 'greatest earth bender ever', Toph?..." Cornelia challenged the Bei Fong girl.

Cornelia returned to the battle - and brought along the top of the nearby mountain with her!

She held it up telepathically, straining with the effort.

The members of the invasion party gasped!

No earth bender throughout history had ever bent so much of the solid element!

But Toph's unseeing eyes didn't so much as blink.

Her 'groundar' told her exactly where the mini-mountain was above her. When Cornelia released her payload, the earth bending expert planned to neatly slice it in two and emerge unscathed.

Sokka, however, did not know that.

All he saw was the girl he loved in grave danger!

"...Then bend this!" Cornelia yelled, flinging the massive mound of dirt and rock at the blind girl below!

Toph stood her ground, all senses focused on the peril coming at her, ready to split the huge rock as soon as she came in contact with it.

Thus, she was totally unprepared for what happened next!

"Toph! Look out!!" Sokka shouted, knocking the young lass out of the way!

"Snoozles?" Toph blurted as she fell in the dirt a short distance away from her 'savior'.

Sokka looked up as the released mountaintop, fully under the force of gravity at this point, got closer and closer, steadily spreading its dark shadow over the trapped Water Tribe boy.

"**Sokka!!**"Toph, frozen by fear, screamed.

ooooooooooooooo

"Then I'll have to come up with the escape plan!" a much more confident Irma Lair declared. Freeing herself and Aang from Zuko's spirit trap had done wonders for the girl Guardian's disposition!

"Remember the water park?" Irma innocently asked the boy Avatar.

"Well, yeah, but there's no river around here!" Aang pointed out.

"Then I'll just have to make one, won't I?" Irma chortled.

With a wave of her hand, the Water Guardian used her Candracar-given abilities over the wet element to send a wave cascading down from the top of the mountain!

The massive wave crashed down onto the landing where Zuko and his men had the pair cornered, and sent the stunned guards smashing into the wall!

Zuko reacted a bit faster and managed to avoid the violent wall of water!

But all he could do was watch helplessly as the mighty wave carried his long sought prey away from him!

"Later, zuzu petals!" Irma snickered, happy to get the better of the Heart of Candracar-wielding teen Fire Lord as she and Aang slid down her impromptu water slide to freedom. "Wheeee!!"

Down the majestic-peaked mountain rode Aang and Irma on the liquid carpet beneath their butts!

Irma had used her water powers to create the world's longest Slip n' Slide!

Zuko's Yu Yan archers regrouped and attempted to shoot the two elementals from afar, but their arrows were consumed by the wave that covered Irma and Aang in a protective, watery bubble!

"We can still catch them, sire." Zindao, the Captain of the Guard, informed Fire Lord Zuko, as huge, leathery wings furiously beat the air behind him.

"No. Let them go." Zuko rejected the recommendation of his Captain. "They'll be back."

Even though he had the advantage, in both air- and firepower, the Fire Lord hesitated to unleash his new secret weapon. Though he had learned a great deal about the magical jewel he possessed, and of its former keepers, the Guardians still remained an X factor, and potential stumbling blocks to his plans. Therefore, when it came to Will, Cornelia, Taranee, the air girl or the hated water girl, he had to tread very carefully. Zuko had planned everything very precisely, had constructed the perfect trap for the Avatar, and still came up short. So it was quite likely any plan conceived on the fly would have an even greater chance of failure. Potentially, _catastrophic_ failure! Better to re-assess, and plan anew. Zuko wasn't about to let his passions ruin him this time!

ooooooooooooooo

"No! It...It can't be..." the disbelieving Cornelia uttered.

Below the shocked, hovering Guardian of Earth one thing poked out of the rubble remains of her mountain attack - the teenaged arm of the once bright-eyed, fun-loving boy from the South Pole.

"Sokka!! **Nooooo!**"the blood-curdling scream rang out, echoing across the war-ravaged land of the Fire Nation.

Toph rushed to the side of the one she loved.

The earth parted, and young, trembling hands carefully reached for the broken, lifeless body of the proud warrior of the Water Tribe.

Through her tears, the blind earth bender faced the one responsible for the teen's tragic fate. "You killed him! You killed Sokka!!" she raged.

"No! It's not my fault!!" the mega-upset blonde earth elemental from Heatherfield sputtered, defiant rage and sorrow in equal measure spilling out of her mouth. "It's, this is all your fault!! Yours and Aang's! You should never have come here! You should never have attacked us!"

Full of guilt and remorse, wishing to take back that which was impossible, the stunned Earth Guardian fled the scene of her shame.

ooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, as the Water Guardian and the Avatar made good their escape from the scheming Fire Lord, Irma entertained dark thoughts. _How could Zuko know what we were going to do? Is there a spy among us?_

ooooooooooooooo

"It's got to work!" Katara prayed, as she frantically applied wet, healing hands over and over to the chest of her only sibling. "It has to! Please, spirits! Don't take him!" Then Katara recalled the special healing liquid she possessed. "The Spirit Oasis water! If I use that..."

"Katara..."

It was Katara's and Sokka's father, Chief Hakoda.

"It's too late. He's gone."

ooooooooooooooo

Running to join the rest of the invasion force, Aang declared "We've got to get out of here! It was a trap! Zuko was waiting for us! Why are you all standing around...?"

Then Aang saw the cold, inanimate body of his fallen friend on the ground.

"By the Spirits!" Aang shouted.

"What is it, Aang?" Irma finally caught up to the group. A recovered Hay Lin turned to her longtime companion, and the pain in her eyes told Irma Lair just how bad things were! "No, Hay Lin! Say it isn't so!"

Irma peered beyond her friend, who was in state of shock (most of the Allies were!) and saw for herself. "God! No!!" Irma cringed, holding her hand before her mouth lest any more expletives escape her throat.

"It's, it's even worse, Irma!" Hay Lin hesitated to relay the facts of the matter. "Cornelia, she...did this."

In that moment, the hope in Irma's heart, that she and Hay Lin would rescue her friends, that all would be well and good like before...died.

Consumed by shock and grief, the desire for war having abandoned them, most of the invaders stood around, not knowing what to do next.

Most.

But not Toph!

For once, she was glad she was blind!

Fueled by adrenaline, she managed to bury her own grief temporarily. Long enough to take the action they all needed, anyway.

"Come on, we gotta go!" Toph shouted, rousing the others from their grief-driven stupor. "I can feel the Fire Nation army marching back now that the eclipse is over!"

The fellow members of Sokka's Water Tribe quickly tore a bamboo wall from a storage shed, converted it into a stretcher and laid Sokka's body atop it.

Then Toph led the saddened group into the mountain, through the ancient lava vents, back to the cove on the river where their boats were docked.

ooooooooooooooo

At the waters' edge of the cove, a Fire Nation official confronted Mayor Tong.

"Those boats don't belong here!" the armed, harbor security officer sternly declared.

"Are you sure?" the bureaucratic Mayor argued. "The port official said to bring them here for holding, because they were backed up something terrible in the Capital City port! I have papers for entry, for our cargo, the tax stamp for the snagglegrass, the doctor's license for the saber-tooth moose lion cubs (those are for the zoo), the..."

"Those twits at the port! They're always doing this to us! Ever since the new Fire Lord took over, the paperwork has been unbelievable!" the security man bitched and moaned.

"Yes, I know what you mean!" the quick-talking Mayor encouraged the armed man's skewed point of view. "It's been a bureaucratic nightmare in the Colonies, too!"

"Give me the good old days! A war would get these pansies out of out hair for good! Ha ha ha!" laughed the Fire Nation security officer as he looked over the Mayor's (forged) paperwork.

"Yes. Quite. Ha ha!" Mayor Tong replied, going along with the joke. "Let them worry about earth bent boulders aimed at their heads for a while, and then we'll see how much they care about 'tax stamps'!"

"Ha! Exactly!" the harbor security guard readily agreed. "You're alright, man!" He then scanned the paperwork and overlooked all the obvious (and suspicious) mistakes (like the misspelled name of the port). "Everything looks in order here."

"Thank you, sir!" the Mayor obsequiously bowed to the low-ranking official, feeding his ego. Once again, the silver-tongued devil had talked himself out of another jam!

However, bent over as he was, the Mayor failed to see the approach of the returning war party.

As the Mayor stood up, Water Tribe pallbearers bearing the deceased Sokka on a raised stretcher of bamboo shoots walked past the harbor officer, followed by the other Allies, led by a weeping Toph.

"Huh?" the Mayor eyed the curious scene, and tried to figure out what was going on. "Toph? What's wrong?" he blurted.

Then the Mayor saw the prone body lying on the bed of bamboo.

"Oh. Oh no!" he gasped.

"Wait a minute!" the Fire Nation homeland defenseman bellowed as the grieving party passed him. "Those guys are Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom! You're not Fire Nation!" he yelled as he reached for his horn to alert the military.

"Er, but my good sir, ah, you're mistaken!" bleated the former Mayor of Avatar Town, as he fruitlessly tried to prevent the beefy soldier from sounding the horn! He reached for the noisy device, but was easily blocked by the rather large harbor constable! With one hand he held the Mayor helplessly off the ground, and with the other he put the horn to his lips. "I...Help!" yelled the Mayor.

Toph, without even 'looking' behind her, bent a rock and smacked the security official in the head before he could raise the alarm.

"Unhh!" the harbor guard released the Mayor, lost consciousness and crumpled helplessly to the ground.

On the ship, Toph silently bent open Cal's 'cell' room and stood there, not knowing what to say to her and Sokka's 'child'.

But the wet tears on Toph's face told Cal more than he ever wanted to know.

"Toph? Why are you crying?? What's..." Cal tenderly inquired. Then he looked around for his other 'parent'. "Where's Sokka? Why isn't...Oh no."

"Sokka…Sokka didn't make it, Cal." Toph revealed, her sadness releasing a surprising torrent of watery tears. (Surprising because of the volume, considering it came from an earth bender).

"Oh no! Toph, I'm so sorry! I should have been there! It's all my fault!" the grief-stricken boy wailed.

"It's not your fault, sweetie. Don't say that. Don't ever say that!" Toph hugged the lovely child for all he was worth.

The two consoled each for the longest time, all the way past sunset, emerging from their room only when the ship reached the spot for Sokka's burial at sea.

Under the moonless night sky of the New Moon (it was as if the youngster's death was a tragedy so great Yue, Sokka's former lover and the current, mournful Spirit of the Moon, unable to watch the sorrowful proceedings, turned her face from the world), Sokka's family and friends put to rest the body of the Water Tribe boy who had touched the lives of so many.

They prepared the funeral according to their custom, laying the body on whaleskin (if it was available; failing that, sealskin), and then painted Sokka's face to prepare him for the next world.

South Pole Water Tribe prayers were sung, and ceremonial dances were performed.

Then the most spiritual member of the Tribe customarily anointed the dead with the life-giving element, water, to aid the departed on its journey to the new life they now entered - that of a spirit.

Which meant that Katara had to anoint her own dead brother! The problem being that it must be done without weeping, so that the deceased's spirit is not distressed or delayed as it traveled to the next world.

Her father, Chief Hakoda, told Katara she didn't have to perform the ritual, that they could have another do it, such as Master Pakku. But the proud Water Tribe girl insisted, as she considered it her duty, both to her Tribe and to her family.

And as hard as it was, Katara did not shed a single tear during the entire ceremony. Once it was over, Aang and Toph escorted the emotional water bending lass away from the lifeless body of her brother. Only then did Katara break down and cry.

Following this, the non-Water Tribe members of the funeral party - Aang, Toph, Suki, Cal, Hay Lin, Irma, Haru and the others from the Earth Kingdom - each paid their respects in their own way. But the things they said were too personal, too intrusive, to relate here. Appa and Momo were sad, but respectful. (In a rare display of animal intelligence, Momo didn't even attempt to filch any of Sokka's tasty treats from the pocket of his corpse, something he had tried often when the Water Tribe boy slept in camp - which was why Sokka usually stayed in a tent!)

Finally, the people of the South Pole Water Tribe placed food and personal effects around Sokka, including his boomerang, which his father, Hakoda, broke and then secured to his son's person. The boomerang was created by Sokka; thus, the people of the Water Tribe believed Sokka's spirit was in the piece of curved wood, and needed a way to be released. The somber members of the Tribe then slowly lowered the teen warrior from the South Pole into the water, and all watched as the waves washed over him and took the youngster to a better place.

_I give you one thought to keep,_

_I am with you still - I do not sleep_

_I am the wind that blows_

_I am the sparkling glints on snow_

_I am the sunlight cured meat_

_I am the gentle summer's treat_

_I am the play of birds not in flight_

_I am the fish that leaps through the water by moonlight_

_I am the soft stars that shine in the sky_

_I am all that you see, by and by_

_Do not think of me and cry_

_I am not dead, I did not die_

_I am with you still at each new sun- and moon-rise._

- Funeral Prayer of the South Pole Water Tribe

ooooooooooooooo

The Fire Lord stood, all by himself, in the Palace corridor in front of the portrait of his family and mused on both recent events and the more distant past.

Though he and the forces of his nation had successfully repelled the invasion, the victory was inconclusive, at best, and Zuko wondered what it all meant.

"Destiny!" Zuko derisively snorted. "Huh. What a world."

Then...

...The click clack of heels on the marble floor punctured the moment.

Zuko turned to see who it was and said "Cornelia. How did things go on the front lines? I heard it was rough."

But she didn't answer him. Or even look at the teen Fire Lord as she strode in the direction of her room.

"Cornelia?" a concerned Zuko stopped the earth elemental, and inquired. "What's wrong?"

Cornelia momentarily gazed at the young monarch, then glanced away.

But it was long enough for Zuko to see how distraught the Earth Guardian was.

"These powers are a curse!" Cornelia Hale bawled. "You, you should take them away from me, forever!"

"You can't mean that!" the sensitive royal consoled the Earth girl. "My military advisers told me you saved the whole city! And there's still so much more good you can do with your elemental powers!"

"No, I don't deserve them! I...killed someone." Cornelia sadly revealed. "It was an accident, but it's still my fault!"

"Oh, Cornelia!" Zuko took the young teen in his loving arms. "This is war. These things happen. But you shouldn't have been involved. I'm so sorry!!"

Then the steely-eyed Fire Lord looked the Candracar-selected Guardian of Earth in the eye and confidently declared "It's not your fault, Cornelia! If Aang and the others had listened to reason, this cowardly invasion never would have happened! If anyone is to blame, it's them!!"

Cornelia's heart raced, different emotions vying for dominance. "I, I don't know." she replied. "My powers feel all wild and out of control on this world! I don't think I trust myself with them anymore."

"If you really want me to remove your powers, I will." Zuko promised. "But only if you do me one favor. I was like you once. I was lost, and couldn't trust my feelings. My fire powers didn't do what I wanted. And then I acquired this Heart, which only made things worse!"

"So, I don't...What are you asking of me?" the puzzled girl quizzed the curious-acting leader of the Fire Nation.

"Then I met someone, Cornelia! Someone who helped me deal with my anger and frustration and instructed me on how to best use this amazing jewel!" a smiling Zuko stated. "He can help you, too!"

"Really??" the startled Hale girl retorted. _Who was this person? _Cornelia wondered. _Maybe someone who knows of Candracar, and how to get me and the other Guardians back home? _she hoped.

"Yes!!" Zuko enthusiastically exclaimed. "Before you do anything rash, at least listen to what he has to say! Afterwards, I'll take away your powers, if that's still your desire, and also take you to see your friend, Will, just as I promised! Deal?"

It sounded almost too good to be true, and Cornelia hesitated. _Could Zuko be plotting something? _she briefly suspected. Then she dismissed her concerns, judging that she had nothing to lose by meeting this unknown man. Plus, she might gain insight on how to defeat Zuko and free her teammates!

"Okay." Cornelia wearily (and warily) agreed. "I'll meet this friend of yours."

"Thank you, Cornelia!" a proud Zuko replied, as he used the Heart of Candracar to open a portal to another world. Behind him, the portrait of the beaming, happy family of his youth glared down at the two scheming 'lovers'. "There's just one thing." Zuko added. "My friend's a Spirit, and human emotions offend him. So keep a blank face at all times."

_Doom doom doom doom do do doom do do doom_

_Doom doom doom doom do do doom do do doom_

_Doom! Doom! _

_Do do do da da _

_Do do do da da _

_Dum da dum_

_Dum da dum_

_Uh Oh._

_Sokka's dead._

_Cornelia's distraught, and about to be taken to the Big Bad of the Spirit World._

_The other heroes are deep in grief and in disarray._

_And Zuko's up to…what, exactly??_

_You have to see what happens…_

_Next:_

_Repercussions!_

_Faced with such a devastating loss,_

_how will our heroes respond?_

_(Hint: It's not good!)_

_Plus:_

_More on the mystery of Zuko and his destiny!_

_Learn what drives the heated Prince in a special Zuko-centric chapter!_

_Experience his passion and his pain_

_(but mostly his pain)_

_as secrets of the Avatar's world are revealed for the first time!_

_(It's a shocker, folks!)_

_Guest-starring Cornelia, Aang the Avatar, Taranee, Katara, Hay Lin, Irma, Toph, Caleb (!), Ozai, _

_Wan Shi Tong, Azula (as you've never seen her before!), Mai, a yaksheep (??), Ty Lee, Will (!) and…Iroh?_

_In addition, we continue the tale of the ancient Avatar!_

Notes

The _Star Wars_ tune is the Darth Vader theme (Imperial March). It just reeks of evil, doesn't it?

Hey, how about that? More Star Wars references! _Avatar _has Mark Hamill in the cast (as the voice of Fire Lord Ozai), so I'm not the only one working _SW_ in. Now if only I could get those scene to scene dissolves into the story…

This chapter (along with the previous chapter) is an examination of father/son relationships. (That's why the chapter is titled 'Day of Black _Son. _No typo here!) There's Wu Guo (or Koh) and the spirits, Sokka/Cal, Hakoda/Sokka, Iroh/Zuko and Ozai/Zuko. And that's also why I have the Star Wars bits. Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker is one of the most celebrated father/son duos in popular culture, after all.

I love the back and forth between Cornelia and Toph in their fight. Talking/arguing during fights is so superheroey! And Toph's nickname for Cornelia - Princess Floaty Butt - is classic! (She already calls Aang 'Twinkletoes', Sokka 'Snoozles' and Katara 'Sugarqueen'. This is at least as good).

With Taranee absent, the others can't telepathically contact each other. (Cornelia could telepathically converse with Hay Lin in Chapter 1 because Taranee was nearby).

Theoretically, the longest a total solar eclipse can last is 7 minutes, 31 seconds (which _Avatar _rounded up to 8 minutes on the TV show). It seems longer in the story because it was a cloudy day, so the partial eclipse before and after the total eclipse, combined with the cloud cover, greatly weakened the fire benders.

It may surprise some of you, but even when Cornelia threw the mountain at Toph, she didn't think she'd really hurt the blind earth bender. Corny figured Toph would survive somehow. The grand attack was more of a statement like "I'm the big dog, and don't you forget it!" Cornelia was trying to end the conflict any way she could, and got a little...careless...in the execution of her plan. Cornelia is not a violent person. Which may seem strange for a 'superhero' type, but that's the way the character has been presented in cartoon and comic form.

The last thing I wrote in this chapter was Sokka's death (which was, oddly enough, the first thing I wrote when I began the story). I even wrote future chapters before I penned the death scene. I really didn't want to kill Sokka, and writing it made it seem so final. But I had to do it. It was an important part of the story. At the very least, I give him a proper sendoff. Before he dies, Sokka finds love and becomes a (sort of) father. Then he engineers an invasion worthy of Alexander The Great. So all props to him.

"Later, zuzu petals!" Irma makes an 'It's A Wonderful Life' reference sure to annoy Zuko (even though he doesn't know anything about movies), because he hates when his sister Azula calls him 'Zuzu'.

Captain of the Guard Zindao is Admiral Zhao's nephew. Does that make him good or evil? Hmmm. You'll see.

Why does Zuko go to such elaborate lengths to capture Aang? Why didn't he just nab him at the Peace Conference? Because Zuko knows, from tough, personal experience, how hard it is to catch a crafty air bender like Aang. And it's even more difficult to hold onto him! So Zuko needed the right conditions to create a trap even Aang couln't escape. But he didn't figure on Irma Lair, the Water Guardian!

Sokka's funeral wasn't in the original outline. My goal was to do something worthy of Sokka. I hope I succeeded. And I hope the Avatarworld of the future is worthy of his sacrifice.

Sokka's friends (Aang & Co.) say goodbye to the Water Tribesman in the short one-shot "Funeral for a Friend", which is in the Avatar section as it's specific to the Avatarworld characters (the W.I.T.C.H. girls are not mentioned in it).

Native Americans of the Southwest believe that the spirit of the artist is in the article created. Hand-woven blanket or rug designs must have a way for the spirit of the weaver to escape. Therefore, you can tell an authentic native rug or blanket if it has a thread sticking out. At many of the old native cemeteries one would find several clay pots in pieces, broken for the spirit to be released.

The Omaha Tribe kindles a fire, keeping it burning brightly throughout the night to light the dear departed one to the land of happiness. This service is done without weeping, that the spirit may not be arrested or distressed as it travels hence. Other tribes have similar beliefs and customs.

The 'funeral prayer of the South Pole Water Tribe' is adapted from a common Native American funeral prayer. of which slightly different versions are available on the internet. (They don't grow grain in the South Pole, so I had to change that and a few other things to make the prayer more representative of life in the the Antarctic clime).

Sokka doesn't have his space sword in this story because it follows an alternate timeline ("What If Zuko Won?" picks up after the events of the Avatar episode "Bitter Work"), so that chapter didn't happen in this version (although an extra tale could be written to insert the sword into the continuity). Therefore, he's not buried with the sword.


	6. Dramatis Personae

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

In our last tumultuous chapter, Sokka died, Aang barely escaped the Fire Lord's trap and an emotionally crippled Cornelia was on her way to meet the devious spirit, Koh. What happens next?

But first, a recap of the principal players in our drama.

Dramatis Personae

Aang, the Avatar - He took his best shot at ending the war and lost. His choices only get harder from here on out. Is Aang willing to compromise his beliefs to ensure he doesn't fail the world, or his friends, ever again? His good friend (although he wishes she were more) is...

Katara, the water bender - The Water Tribe girl with a heart as big as the South Pole, Katara has always been there for Aang, no matter what. But the loss of her brother has hit her hard. Plus, both she and the Avatar are currently distracted by...

Hay Lin, the Air Guardian - The only one besides Aang with air powers since Aang's people, the Air Nomads, were wiped out 100 years ago. As such, Hay Lin holds a special place in the young Air Monk's heart (even though she is different from Aang's people in many ways). How special, neither he (nor Hay Lin or Katara), can say. She's always approached life with joy in her heart, but lately that cheery outlook has been tempered by a series of unfortunate events. Hay Lin is accompanied by...

Irma Lair, the Water Guardian - Snarky even in the best of times, Irma has been especially moody and snappish ever since three of her friends were kidnapped. She truly hates their kidnapper, but can she move past that to achieve something greater than payback, and even greater than justice? Her three lost friends include...

Taranee Cook, the Fire Guardian - The rational Guardian is an example of the good (and the bad) that can occur when using logic alone to solve problems. But what happens when Taranee encounters a problem with no solution? She follows the Fire Lord to help the people of the Fire Nation and her leader...

Will Vandom, the Energy Guardian - The heart of the band of Guardian sisters, Will may very well hold the key to the success of their mission on this strange, element-infused world. She has been out of the picture ever since she was captured by the new Keeper of the Heart of Candracar. Her fellow captive, who pledged to serve the Fire Lord to save Will, is...

Cornelia Hale, the Earth Guardian - While fighting for the people she loves, Cornelia inadvertently caused a great tragedy. More vulnerable than ever and also, oddly enough, on the verge of greatness, what she does next will have ramifications beyond her life, her team, her country and even her world! Her captor, who has a special interest in her, is...

Zuko, the Fire Lord - Current possessor of the Heart of Candracar, the most powerful magical item in existence, the emotionally-driven Zuko orchestrated the capture of the three Guardians and the current war. But why? What is he after? And is he even in charge? Or is another pulling the strings? He is loved by...

Mai, the nobleman's daughter - The dark, repressed girl finally displayed her feelings for her longtime flame, Zuko, when he took on the mantle of supreme ruler of the nation of Fire. But Zuko's strange relationship with Cornelia presents a unique challenge for this blade-wielding young woman. As close as Mai is to the Fire Lord, how she responds to this challenge for his affections could have an impact beyond her own happiness and affect the whole Fire Nation. One not unduly concerned with the Fire Nation's happiness is...

Toph, the earth bender - Self-proclaimed 'greatest earth bender ever', Toph had an opportunity to prove that boast but lost and, worse than that, one she dearly cared for paid the price of her ego. Can she put her pain aside and achieve her true potential? She is emotionally supported by her and Sokka's 'son'...

Caleb, the boy from Meridian - Sent to the Avatar's world by the Oracle to save the Guardians after their mission took a disastrous turn, Caleb was regressed in age (and size) to pierce the Veil that surrounds the Avatar's reality, but landed in the wrong place and lost the means to instantly change himself back to his rightful age. Found by Sokka and Toph while just a babe, he has been slowly reverting to his true youth and size, regaining his memories along the way. Unable to save the girl he loves from participating in a catastrophic war, and having lost one he considered like a father, Caleb vows to defeat the Fire Lord and free Cornelia. Also opposing Zuko, but not allied with our heroes, is...

Azula, the Fire Princess - Deposed by her brother, humbled and disgraced by the theft of her fire bending abilities by the Guardian of Fire, can Azula, once the most feared fire bender on the planet, mount a comeback? The uncle of both her and Zuko is...

Iroh, former general of the Fire Nation - The wise, retired general, son of, brother to, and uncle to current and former Fire Lords, and secretly a member of the mysterious White Lotus Society, Iroh has not been seen since he was imprisoned by a glamoured Prince Phobos, who served Ozai, the previous Fire Lord. He is rumored to be living a much desired, quiet life, but there are those who are looking for him. Why is he in hiding, and what will happen if he's found? His greatest joy in life (and also his greatest fear) has always been his family, which he feels is threatened by those with a lust for power. One of those seeking power is...

Koh, the Face-Stealer - The multi-visaged Spirit follows his own agenda. But what does that mean for the world? However, Koh is not the only dark player in our drama. The list of those opposed by our heroes continues to grow. It includes…

Ozai - The former Fire Lord who was humiliated by his son's 'assistants', the Earth Guardian and Fire Guardian, he is currently on a long (and probably permanent) vacation.

Ghashiun - The sand bender of the Si Wong Desert who was caught trying to steal Aang's sky bison.

Long Feng - The cultural minister of Ba Sing Se and true power behind the throne who was ousted when Avatar Aang informed the Earth King of the truth of the war.

Combustion Man - The 'deadliest fire bender alive', able to blow things up with his mind, who (along with many others) was stricken of his fire bending by Taranee, while acting under Zuko's orders.

The Rough Rhinos - Shock troops/raiders who fought for the Fire Nation by terrorizing the civilian population of the Earth Kingdom, they're presently posing as a traveling musical group touring that same Kingdom since they were banished from their homeland of Fire.

One not exactly opposed to our heroes (but not quite allied with them, either) is the bookish owl spirit…

Wan Shi Tong - The Spirit of Knowledge took a 'hands off' approach when the Avatar and company visited his Spirit Library. Though he despises humans for their warlike ways, he decided not to attack Sokka and the others when the purpose of their visit became clear. Why? Did his opinion of people change? Or is it something else? What does he know, and will he tell anyone? Or does it even matter? One who seems beyond all the sturm und drang of the present day is the final member of our cast, the personage from long ago...

The Ancient Avatar - Who is this mysterious, coarse and definitely un-Avatar like Avatar? And what does he have to do with the current situation?

_Next:_

_A special chapter focusing on Fire Lord Zuko!_

_What drives the former Prince?_

_And how far will he go to get what he wants?_

_The secret history of the Avatar's realm is revealed here!_

_You'll gasp when you find out..._

_Nah, that'd be telling!_

_Plus:_

_The fate of Cornelia!_

_Taranee's reaction!_

_Aang, Katara, Hay Lin, Toph etc. deal with the death of Sokka!_

_(Probably not in the best way, either!)_

_Ozai, Iroh and Wan Shi Tong make important appearances!_

_Find out what happened to Will, the Guardians' leader!_

_Koh makes his move!_

_Maiko and Kataang run into problems!_

_More on the life and mystery of the Ancient Avatar!_

_And Azula, though she doesn't come out of it in one piece,_

_proves why she's the best villainess to come down the pike in years!_

_She's so evil it's scary!_

_(And evil Azula __is__ the best Azula of all. Far better then good Azula, or crazy Azula!)_

_It's some of my best work, ever!_

Notes

Dramatis personæ is a Latin phrase that literally means 'the masks of the drama'.


	7. Repercussions

**Author's Note: This chapter (except for the 'Long Ago' Ancient Avatar prelude) focuses on Zuko's story (although the Guardians and the GAang appear prominently in it, also). To illuminate all the pivotal events that affected the Fire Nation teen, the timeline skips around a bit. The flashbacks explain how Zuko went from Heart of Candracar-wielding fire bender obsessed with capturing Aang the Avatar to Guardian-snatching would-be Fire Lord, and those flashbacks are (for the most part) in chronological order. The other scenes all occur after Zuko became Fire Lord (although in a couple segments it's not specified if they happened before or after the previous chapter, because that's not important) and include Zuko remembering his childhood. **

**This isn't one of those stories where nothing happens. The chapter's rich in plot, and it's all going somewhere.**

**I numbered the scenes to make it easier for readers to keep track of where they are in the chapter if they're interrupted and have to pick it up at a later time.**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

A Long, Long Time Ago...

_"Begone, foul beast!" the bald-headed man commanded._

_"You cannot order me around, o mortal! I am..." the quick-moving multi-legged creature raced through the woods, jumping from tree to tree in an attempt to befuddle his pursuer. Then the creature with the curious face used all of his legs to make a surprise spring towards his opponent!_

_"I know who you are, demon! And I said, __**begone!!**__" Though his tone was harsh, the imperious human kept his face free of any emotion, lest the Spirit take it for its own._

_Then lightning leapt out of the man's hands and fried the mad entity!_

_Before Koh could recover from that electric assault, he was buffeted by tornadic winds, drowned in an ocean of water, burned with the flames of hell and buried under a mountain!_

_"No, no more." the defeated Koh croaked. "Avatar?" he asked, finally realizing he faced the one human being with power over the Spirit World._

_"Yes, Spirit. It is I! The Avatar!" the man answered, full of prideful arrogance. "And you will leave immediately! Or else!"_

_"Why do you keep me from my vengeance? The humans who live in the nearby village wronged my fellow Spirits! I only seek justice." Koh meekly explained._

_"Your justice is as twisted as your body! The townsfolk hired me to rid them of you, and I shall!" the Avatar declared._

_"Take care, Avatar, for you and your loved ones are not immune to my wrath!" Koh threatened._

_"Ha!!" the Avatar sneered. "I know your secret, Koh! Or should I say, 'Wu Guo'? You cannot harm me! As for loved ones, I have none! Now leave this place forever!" The bad-tempered Avatar gave a dismissive kick to the errant Spirit. _

_But it wasn't the physical pain that hurt Koh._

_"As you say, I will leave this place forever. But mark my words, Avatar: One day, you will pay!!" Koh promised._

_Koh vanished from the Fire Nation woods (from the entire physical world, really), never to be seen again by the eyes of man, and the Avatar strolled to town to collect his booty._

_"I''ll take that!" The Avatar grabbed the villagers' treasure in payment. "Yes! Gold, jewels, and..."_

_"You three! Come with me!" The Avatar demanded three of the local women join him in his abode._

_The three pretty ladies hesitated, then did as they were told. Certain promises had been made, after all, and the Avatar did fulfill his part of the bargain by ending the scourge of the face-stealing Spirit._

_As the beautiful trio entered the Avatar's quarters, one of the townsmen seethed with quiet rage, for he was husband to one of the chosen lasses._

_At the same time, a young man watching the drama unfold had a curious admiration for the selfish, disrespectful Avatar._

Chapter 6: Repercussions

000000000000001

_Flashback_

_On his way to intercept the Guardians to learn all he could about the Heart of Candracar he had acquired, Zuko unwittingly opened a door to another world._

_"What the? Where am I?!!" the imperious son of the Fire Lord demanded._

_"Calm down, Prince Zuko. You are merely in the Spirit World." a voice informed the Heart of Candracar-wielding teen. Then an eerie, many-legged creature scurried out of the shadows. "Your wondrous jewel brought you here. It is capable of many things, you know." the creature smirked._

_"Stay back!" Zuko ordered, with as straight as face as possible. "I know who you are! Koh, the Face-Stealer! My uncle told me all about you!"_

_"Really?" Koh drolly observed. "But did he tell you all...about you?"_

_"What are you babbling about?!?" Zuko sternly retorted._

_End Flashback_

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Fire is the element of power. The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want.

- Iroh, "Bitter Work"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

000000000000002

Zuko, son of Ozai, grandson of Azulon, great-grandson of Sozin, had achieved much. He had become Fire Lord, the youngest _ever_, deposing both his overbearing, oh so 'perfect' father and his black-hearted sister. He had ended the 100 year war between the nations and freed the prisoners and captive cities of that war. He had captured and de-powered the vile criminals who preyed on the good people of the Fire Nation. He had cleaned the country of its toxic polution. He had even started his beloved, but insular, homeland on the road to understanding, and eventually reconciling with, the other nations of earth, water and air.

Not that it had been easy.

In fact, it had been quite difficult, and some obstacles still remained.

But the Fire Lord already had plans underway to eliminate the opposition.

So everything _should_ have been fine.

Great, even!

And yet...

Zuko walked the halls of the Fire Palace where hung portraits of the families of all the Fire Lords throughout history. He stopped in front of his own family portrait and stared at it. He did this often, as it helped him gather his thoughts.

Usually, anyway.

He looked at the family tableau rather intensely, as if trying to divine some hidden meaning.

His mother, so sweet and kind.

His father, so proud and beaming.

Even Azula cracked a smile with no trace of wickedness upon it.

And Zuko himself, the young boy of, what? 8? 9? So happy.

One big, happy family!

Zuko wondered where it all went so horribly, tragically wrong, and he recalled a fond memory of his youth, when his father took him to the Fire Sages' Temple.

_Ten Years Ago..._

_"Father! Father! Are we going to the Fire Temple today?!?" an excited, six-year old Zuko asked._

_"Ha ha! Yes, my dear, sweet boy!" a smiling Ozai replied. "It is time you learned of our proud nation's heritage!"_

_When they arrived at the Temple, Zuko looked with wonder upon the architecture, gaped open-mouthed at the ceremonial firepit, and giggled at the funny-looking men dressed in their weird robes._

_But nothing impressed the young Prince quite as much as the artwork adorning the walls of the Temple: Wood-burnings created by master fire benders over the centuries!_

_While Zuko examined the intricate works of art, his father conversed privately with the Fire Sages._

_When they hurriedly left the Temple, his father appeared to Zuko to be in a sullen mood. _

_Upon entering the royal carriage, though, his dad's features brightened, and with one mention of a trip to the flaming fire cake seller, any sourness was banished from both their minds._

Then the memory was gone.

And all that remained was Zuko.

In front of a painting of his family.

Him.

His mother.

His father.

And his sister, Azula.

000000000000003

In his throne room, Fire Lord Zuko sat uncomfortably upon his seat of power. The present situation greatly annoyed him.

He was scheduled to listen to citizen's complaints/requests today, and he questioned why he was saddled with this irksome task.

So Zuko turned to his Chief of Staff and asked "Why do I have to do this, Shen? Didn't I already appoint judges to hear legal cases?? And administrators to handle day-to-day governing?"

"None of the judges or administrators could decide these issues, sire, " the aide answered, "because they have a lower status than the parties involved. Only you, the Fire Lord, can resolve these matters of the nobility." head assistant Shen Ming informed the Fire Lord.

"All right! Sighhhh! Bring on the first case!" Zuko said, surrendering to the inevitable.

Two men approached the Fire Lord's throne, one of the men accompanied by an animal.

"He stole my yaksheep!" the first nobleman raged, pointing at the man with the yaksheep calf.

"No! It's mine!" the other noble cried, throwing his arms around the small furry animal.

"Excuse me?? Shen!!!!" Fire Lord Zuko angrily screamed at his assistant to tell him just what the hell was going on!

"Er, uh, apparently, the first party hired the second party to provide a bull yaksheep for stud services." Shen said, reading from a transcript of the case. "But there was a rare blizzard in the mountains, and when the baby yaksheep was born and wandered down out of the mountain, the second party did not know it was the result of the union of the stud yaksheep and the first party's female yaksheep, and he, ah, 'adopted' it."

"This is ridiculous! Why is this even before me?? It's a simple matter!" Zuko snapped.

"I offered to pay the gasbag! But he won't take my gold!" the second party yelled.

"It's the principle of the thing! Plus, it's a prize yaksheep!" the first party screamed.

"They've, uh, reached an impasse. That's why they're asking you to resolve their dispute, sire!" Shen explained.

"Fine, then!" Zuko testily replied. "You both can have the livestock!"

He plucked a ceremonial axe off the throne room's walls, walked calmly over to the young calf and raised the axe above its head...

"Not my baby!!!" The second party ran in front of the animal, shielding it from the Fire Lord's wrath with his own body

"I won't let the mean Fire Lord hurt lil' Snookums! Kiss kiss!" said the second man, as he showered affection on the young yaksheep.

"All right! That's it! The first guy gets the yaksheep!" Zuko ruled, lecturing the second nobleman on his behavior in the process. "You're just too weird!"

As the first man cheerily walked off with the prize-worthy animal, the Fire Lord's guards had to drag the emotional second man out of the chambers.

"No! No! Wahhhh! My baby!!" he cried.

"Well, that was a winner!" Zuko ruefully observed. "Any more brilliant cases like that, Shen?" Zuko sarcastically asked his assistant.

"Er, not quite, sire." Shen nervously announced. "Only this one involving...your sister." He handed Zuko the note, written on royal stationery.

"Azula??" Zuko wondered. Then he read the note.

"Huh. I gave my sister her freedom. Apparently that wasn't good enough!" Zuko spat, speaking of the sibling he had ordered stripped of her fire bending abilities, royal titles and properties (except for a small stipend to live on), then set adrift to fend for herself in the new nation Zuko was constructing. The Overlord of the Fire Lands crumpled the hand-written note and tossed it disdainfully on the floor. "Have her detained." Zuko commanded.

"How long shall we detain her, sire?" Shen asked for clarification.

"Indefinitely." Zuko flatly replied.

000000000000004

_Flashback_

_"There is much in your past you are unaware of, Prince Zuko. Much that has been hidden from you." the multi-limbed Spirit teased._

_"Quit speaking in riddles, creature!" Zuko demanded. "Tell me what you mean!"_

_"I shall do even better, Princeling. I will show you!" Koh declared._

_The inscrutable Spirit directed Zuko's attention to the walls of his cave, upon which images of people, hazy at first, then more distinct, formed. And the images talked!_

_"Your son has a sensitive soul, my Lord." said the robed man with the tall hat._

_"Are you saying he's weak??" the angry man retorted._

_"No, Prince Ozai! You misunderstand!"_

_Watching and hearing the images play out on the rocky walls, Zuko had a flash of recognition._

_"That's my father! With the Fire Sages! That's when he took me to the Fire Temple!"_

_"Watch and learn, Prince Zuko." Koh gleefully said, a wicked smile on his Noh mask-like face._

_Zuko did watch. And listen._

_But he didn't like what he heard._

_"No. No!! It can't be true!!!" he cried._

_End Flashback_

000000000000005

Two beings stepped through a glowing portal and found themselves in a dismal, foggy swamp with a puke yellow sky.

"Where are we??" the curious girl asked, staring at the odd landscape with a mixture of awe and apprehension as she and the royally-outfitted energy wielder trudged through the brackish water.

"The Spirit World." her companion answered.

"Really?" the teen girl known as Cornelia Hale uttered in response. "Hey, do you think we'll see Hei Bai?"

"No, we won't be here long enough to do any sightseeing." the young man known as Fire Lord Zuko replied. "Wait…You know the Spirit of the Forest?"

"Sort of. We talked once." Cornelia revealed.

This gave Zuko pause. He had thought Cornelia's title of 'Plant Spirit' was merely a reflection of the public's fascination with her unusual power to grow vegetation. Now if he wondered if they were right, after all.

But he didn't have much time to think about it.

"Here we are." Zuko announced. The duo had arrived at a huge tree.

But there was definitely something strange about it.

"The roots…go up in the air." Cornelia observed. "They're not in the ground. There's something very, very wrong about this place." Cornelia shivered involuntarily.

"Scared?" Zuko teased.

"What? No!! Of course not!" said the lass who had faced many a monster in her time as a Guardian of Candracar. "You're sure the spirit living here can help me?"

"Yes. I'm sure of it." Zuko reassured his young charge. "As I said, he helped me."

"And then you'll take me to see my friend Will?" inquired the Earth Guardian of her missing teammate.

"I said I would, didn't I?" Zuko smiled.

But whether it was a smile of a friend, or a person with hidden motives, none could say.

"In here." Zuko motioned, directing Cornelia into Koh's cave beneath the tree. "But remember, clear your face of all expression."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring.

- Iroh, "Bitter Work"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

000000000000006

After their eerie run-in with Fire Lord Zuko, who caught them in some sort of 'spirit trap', Aang and Irma convinced the others that Zuko was an even bigger threat than they realized and had to be stopped. Towards that goal, Katara undertook a diplomatic mission to the Earth King in Ba Sing Se to ask for his support in a new invasion of the Fire Nation (which also got her mind off of her brother. Or so Aang hoped).

Meanwhile, in their Earth Kingdom camp, our heroes licked their wounds, wounds both physical and otherwise.

"I can't do it!!!" the young blind girl raged, heaving a wall of sand into the air. "I can't sand bend!"

"Sure you can, Toph!" Aang reassured her. "You're throwing it now! It'll take practice, but you'll gain more control! I'm doing it!" he confidently added, as he bent a line of sand in an attempt to write his name on the ground. But the tiny grains only formed the two 'A's before they stopped. "Well, almost. But I'm learning! And you will, too, Toph! I know you will!"

"I can move the sand around, but I can't 'see' it, Twinkletoes!" explained the sightless earth bender, who used vibrations to sense her surroundings. "It's so loose and shifty, it makes everything look fuzzy! And if I can't feel what I'm doing, I can't bend it!!"

"So? I can't see air, but I bend that!" Aang pointed out. "And you used tiny rocks to tell you what was happening when you fought Cornelia, which was kind of like Hay Lin's 'sonar' thing. So you can do this!"

"That was different." Toph dejectedly said. "Besides, in that fight, I...I failed. It's my fault Sokka died, Aang! 'Greatest earth bender ever'! What a joke! I didn't even know what that meant!" she cried, a river of tears flowing from her unseeing orbs.

"Hey, come on, Toph! You're being too hard on yourself. You're not to blame for what happened!" Aang consoled her, putting his hand on the young earth bender's shoulder in a show of comfort and support. Toph had always been the toughest person Aang knew, hard as a rock, but now she was as fragile as glass, and it unnerved the twelve year old Avatar. "Why don't you take a break and we'll practice more earth bending after dinner, okay?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything.

- Iroh, "Bitter Work"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Later Katara, flying Appa, returned from her trip to the Earth King and his generals.

"Katara!" Aang happily greeted the lovely water bender with a hug. "How did it go? Will they help us against Zuko?"

"It went fine, Aang." the tired Water Tribe girl replied. "How are things here?" she asked as she sat down.

"Well, Toph's a mess, and her confidence is totally shot! Irma's depressed ("And don't come back without the frozen custard tart!" the crabby Water Guardian yelled at the frazzled young Avatar as she flung the empty food basket at him). Hay Lin's moods come and go ("What do you think, Aang?" the Air Guardian eagerly asked, displaying her newly-designed clothes. "They're...real interesting, Hay Lin." "You're right! They're crap!" she wailed). I think the failure to rescue their friends from the Fire Nation really hit them hard, although they don't mention it." The list of their companions and their problems rolled off the Air Nomad's tongue.

"And you, Aang?" Katara pressed him. "How do you feel? "

"I, I don't know. It seemed as if Zuko knew exactly what we were going to do, and with that Heart, and that weird 'science stuff', as Irma calls it, I'm kind of at a loss at what to do! I don't know how we can fight him!" the air bender admitted.

"So that's it?!" Katara bitterly responded. "We give up, and Zuko wins, and kills how many more??"

"No, that's not what I meant!" Aang answered her. But Katara wasn't listening. She had turned her back to Aang. "Katara?" the Avatar gently asked.

Katara was crying.

"I can't do this anymore, Aang! I can't be the 'strong one'! (Sniff!)" Katara emoted, her grief over the loss of her brother rising to the surface. "This war has taken my mother, my brother...It'll never end, will it?" she said, wiping the tears away.

"It'll get better, Katara!" the sensitive, upbeat Avatar rocked the South Pole girl in his arms, promising happier days ahead. "We need to…Have a better plan next time. That's all."

Katara desperately wanted to believe him.

Except...

Sokka was the 'plan guy' of their little group.

And Sokka was dead.

000000000000007

"I'm tired of having to make these decisions, Shen!" Zuko grumbled after he judged yet another pitiful dispute among the nobles, this time involving money. It was always either money or kids. Oftentimes both. And it pained Fire Lord Zuko no end!

"But you're the Fire Lord, sire! No one else can..." Chief of Staff Shen Ming began.

"Then I give you full Fire Lord authority to decide any case I can decide, Shen!" Zuko proclaimed.

"Uh, you can do that?" Shen wondered nervously as the crowd of needy complainants eyed him.

Thinking he was done for the day, the leader of the Fire Nation rose from his throne and marched to his personal quarters.

However...

"Hold, sire!" Shen directed his Fire Lord.

"This had better be important, Shen, or..." Zuko left the threat unsaid. He didn't like terrorizing one of his oldest friends, but, by the Spirits, he had had enough!

"Sire?" Shen said, a slight hesitation in his voice. "Even though you said I could handle your cases, I'm not qualified to decide this one!

Then Shen passed a scroll to Zuko. "It's from your sister." Shen informed him.

The supreme ruler of the Fire Nation read the request from the deposed, penniless and imprisoned Princess Azula.

Then, without batting an eye, gave an order.

"Have her whipped. 100 lashes." Zuko coldly stated. "Then send her to the Boiling Rock." he added, mentioning the maximum security prison for the worst of the worst. According to Zuko's Reforms, the Boiling Rock, with its much deserved reputation for extreme punishment, was to be shuttered. However, the New Fire Nation kept on locking away more and more horrible criminals, and they had to be put _somewhere_, so the Rock was kept open.

"Yes, sire." the Chief of Staff bowed to his master, more so he wouldn't have to face his friend's wrathful visage than out of any protocol. The ruler of the Fire Lands had indeed become quite the icy overseer, Shen observed.

000000000000008

_Flashback_

_"This is some foul Spirit trick!" the angry Prince roared at the ancient entity._

_"All that I have shown you is true, son of the Fire Lord." the calculating Koh replied. "But, if you are not convinced, I can provide more evidence."_

_"More? Like what??!" Zuko demanded._

_"You are not the first mortal to travel to the Spirit World, o Prince." Koh grinned._

_End Flashback_

000000000000009

In the Spirit World, Zuko delivered his traveling companion to the multi-faceted one.

"Here she is, Koh." Zuko flatly declared.

The inhabitant of the cave scratched and skittered his many legs across the stony walls until he was in front of his guests.

"Who…are you?" the winged Cornelia said, pointing at the curious creature while keeping as straight a face as possible. The girl from Heatherfield had obviously expected a spirit much more human-like. Or at least an animal spirit like Hei Bai. And not some sort of caterpillar..._thing_ with what appeared to be a mask or makeup on its face!

"That is not important." Koh said with a smirk. "The vital question to be answered is…Who are you?"

"Gaze into this image of the world." Koh entreated the Earth Guardian, directing her to a map on the wall. A map that glowed and pulsed like a living thing. Like a dragon waving its mighty tail!

"Oh! It's…so big." Cornelia gasped.

"Expand your mind. Take it all in. You can do it!" the ancient Spirit cajoled her. "Where are you now?"

"I'm in...the Swamp of the Earth Kingdom! No, the jungle in the Fire Nation's southern islands! Now I'm…" Cornelia rattled off a number of locations across the globe, one after another. It was as if she wasn't even there in the Spirit World anymore, her attention having been diverted to the enormity that was the planet Earth.

Seeing the glassy, faraway look in Cornelia's eyes, Zuko raged "You said you wouldn't hurt her! What did you do to her?!?" the teen monarch angrily demanded.

"Calm yourself, Fire Lord Zuko." Koh replied in his most syrupy-sweet voice. "The one known as Cornelia is the new Plant Spirit. It has been ages since your world had one. That is why it was out of balance for so long. She will be essential to the future of your world."

Koh walked around the Guardian of Earth, inspecting his 'handiwork'. He noted her flesh had taken on a tan, treelike hue, green leaves appeared among her golden locks and twigs were starting to grow out of her limbs. She was becoming more plantlike by the second.

"Do not worry yourself over her, my Lord. Not much can harm her now. How does one injure a meadow?How does one damage a mountain? How does one hurt a planet??" Koh cackled. "Besides, it is written no Spirit can harm another, so Cornelia has nothing to fear from me. Unlike you, Fire Lord." the face-stealing spirit added with a mischievous grin. "You still have your destiny to concern yourself with. And it is not as assured as hers."

"Tell me what I have to do to achieve my destiny, Spirit." Zuko politely asked, the anger that had earlier consumed him now totally absent from his voice.

"Before the comet arrives, you must..." Koh went on to describe the acts Zuko had to perform to attain his hearts' desire.

Meanwhile, Cornelia continued to stare blankly at the entrancing map of the world.

000000000000010

Though a young Prince Zuko accompanied his father to the Temple of the Fire Sages, there were some things he was not privy to.

Luckily (or not so luckily, depending on your point of view), Koh the wild Spirit saw what occurred, and related the events to Ozai's son.

_Ten Years Ago..._

_"What you're saying is preposterous!" Prince Ozai thundered at the robed fire monks._

_"Not so, my Lord!" a Fire Sage theorized. "Your son only picked out the wood-burnings created by previous representatives of the Fire Nation. That is a strong indicator!"_

_"It's still impossible!" Ozai countered. "Everyone knows it is not the time for it! How could the others be bypassed??"_

_"The war, my Lord." a sage fire worshipper pointed out. "The war would have eliminated...two."_

_"And the third?" Ozai forcefully asked the question he hoped would stump the Fire Sages and end this nonsense! "We have not been as successful with them!"_

_"There were reports..." a Fire Sage began "...Of a man living in Ba Sing Se who could have been. And he died seven years ago!"_

_"Reports? Bah! There are rumors every year, but it has never been proven!" Ozai scoffed._

_"But if it were true...Think what that could mean for our Nation's morale! At this moment, General Iroh plans a campaign to conquer the walled city. If he had your son leading them, victory would be assured!" the chief Fire Sage argued._

_Ozai considered what they said for a moment, then waved it off. "No. Out of the question!"_

_"Why are you so against the idea? It is not so hard to believe!" a young Fire Sage plead his case, then stepped over the line! "Does not their blood flow in your son's vein's? Surely you know his ancestor was..."_

_"Do not say that foul name in my presence!" Ozai, grandson of Sozin, raged at the assembled Fire Sages, anger coloring his cheeks a beet red. "Do not mention this ridiculous idea ever again! And to make sure you learn your lesson..."_

_Prince Ozai ordered his men to splash oil on all of the wood burnings hung on the Fire Temple's walls._

_Then, with one bending of fire from his finger, they were all destroyed!_

000000000000011

Taranee Cook was tired.

The Fire Guardian had successfully repelled the Earth Kingdom's invasion of the Fire Nation Colonies on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom continent, but it wasn't easy.

It had taken all she had to keep up with the invaders! Stopping their boulder missiles in midair (before they could land and do damage to the Colonies' populace), scuttling their fleet of ships, and keeping out of the way of the crossfire so she wouldn't be felled by 'friendly fire' (though Taranee wondered just how friendly the Fire Navy was to her. They seemed quite put out that they had to rely on an outsider!).

After the battle, the people of the Colonies were overjoyed to see the much publicized 'Fire Angel', their savior, in person but, reading the negative mood of the Fire Nation leaders in the area, Taranee decided to cut her visit short and return to the Fire Lord's Palace.

Which meant flying straight back hundreds of miles on little rest.

But Tara desperately wanted to see her friend, Cornelia.

Not only to find out how she had fared against the Earth Kingdom invasion of the mainland Fire Nation (if there was one), but to satisfy her curiosity.

Cornelia had a secret plan to defeat Zuko and get Will, their leader, back, and promised the time to strike would be when Taranee returned.

Flying over the Capital City, Taranee noticed rubble littered the streets.

The remains of a great battle!

So, with no small amount of trepidation, the Guardian of Fire flew through the Earth Guardian's open window high up in the tower of the Palace of the Fire Lord.

What she found was...totally unexpected.

Cornelia sat in the middle of the room, on the floor, her back to the window.

And she had her wings! (Somehow, Cornelia had been transformed! Did that mean Will, the Energy Guardian, was free???)

"Cornelia?" Taranee asked. "What's going on? How did you get your wings?"

But there was no response.

Tara walked to the front of the Guardian of Earth, and what she saw made her fiery blood run cold.

Cornelia's skin was very tan, like she had been out in the sun too long, but different and strange, because it looked as if her skin had, what...ridges?... in them. Leaves were in her hair (much more than usual!) And branches and flowers were growing out of her arms! Her legs, too, because they were poking out of her skirt!

"Cornelia?!! What happened to you??!" Taranee yelled.

Then the...thing that used to be her friend turned to her, and Tara saw something worse than the odd skin and branches.

Cornelia's eyes!

They were wide, but dull, like she was spaced out or on some foreign substance!

"Taranee?" Cornelia spoke in an emotionless monotone.

"Yeah, it's me! How are you??" said the concerned Taranee Cook.

"I'm okay." Cornelia flatly responded.

"But what happened to you, Cornelia??" Tara asked. "You're all...different."

"Zuko led me to my destiny, Taranee." Corny replied.

"Zuko did this to you?!!" Taranee railed. "You're not alone anymore, Cornelia! He'll answer for this! For everything he's done!" the justice-seeking Guardian of Fire declared.

"No, Taranee. Zuko's good. He...helped me. And he showed me Will." Cornelia revealed.

Then the Earth Guardian's brilliant sky blue orbs went green as she 'saw' plants on the other side of the world in need of her help. "Grow tall, banyan tree. Break through the canopy. Reach for the light, sunflower. There you go. All better." She rambled on and on, saying things nonsensical to Taranee's ears.

"Cornelia?? Hello!" Tara tried to talk to the Guardian of Earth, both vocally and telepathically, but her friend wasn't 'there' anymore.

**BAM!!**

The door to the Fire Lord's throne room was blown off its hinges and rocketed inside, followed immediately by the guards who stood watch outside!

As the guards landed on their butts, a lone figure strode through the smoky doorway...

...The Fire Guardian!

**"Zuko!!"** the non-angelic winged Guardian shouted, flames spilling out of her eyes and hands, as she was barely able to contain her rage. "What did you do to Cornelia??! **Answer me!!"**

"There's no need to shout." a relaxed Fire Lord replied, drink in hand, as he lounged on the throne. "And do you know how hard it is to replace doors like that? The thickness of the wood, the..."

"Shut up!! Cornelia! Now!" Taranee demanded. Though Zuko possessed the Heart of Candracar and was an excellent fire bender (and had learned a few new tricks since their first tussle in Avatar Town), Taranee was counting on her abilities and greater experience as the Guardian of Fire to enable her to beat the Fire Lord in a one-on-one fight if he refused to cooperate.

Zuko waved his guards off and addressed the angry Fire Guardian.

"Your friend is the Plant Spirit." Zuko calmly said, then took a casual sip of his beverage.

"What??" a baffled Tara uttered.

"Oh, come on, it's not that much of a surprise, is it?" Zuko replied. "People have been calling her that ever since she got here, right?"

"But that, that's crazy!" Taranee was really confused now. 'Plant Spirit' was just an honorary title, a way for people to describe elemental abilities they had no other concept of. It wasn't real!

"Cornelia's...condition is just a side effect of her being on our world. Apparently there used to be a Plant Spirit hundreds of years ago, and earth benders used to be plant benders, too, but something happened, I don't know what, and they disappeared. A lot of history has been lost." Zuko explained. "Anyway, she'll recover once you go back to your world."

"Before that happens, though, you still have to fulfill your obligation to me." Zuko added.

"You really think I'll help you now??" Taranee defiantly stood up to the leader of the Fire Nation.

"You forget: I still have your friend, Will." Zuko reminded the Guardian of Infinity, in a tone of voice to let her know who was in charge. Then he softened, and said "I only need your assistance until the end of summer. Then it'll all be over and you can take your friends home."

"Why should I believe you??" Tara challenged the Fire Lord.

"Have I ever lied to you?" Zuko asked her.

"Show me Will. Right now!" Taranee ordered.

"I'll do better than that." Zuko said, a slight smile creeping into his features. "As a gesture of good faith, I'll hand your enemy over to you."

Taranee was puzzled by the remark, but she wasn't going to let Zuko play her. She insisted he lead her to the Guardians' leader without delay!

She followed him down to the bowels of one of the towers in the Fire Lord's Palace complex. It was dark and dank, with air that smelled centuries old.

"So you keep your dungeons down here?" the Fire Guardian asked.

"Dungeons?" Zuko retorted. "There haven't been dungeons in the Palace for a long time! No, we keep supplies down here. Special supplies." he said, as he turned a key and opened a heavy door.

And there, in a giant jewel, was Prince Phobos!

Trapped like a fly in amber!

"H, how?" Taranee croaked.

"I said I was working on things." Zuko merrily responded. "That was one of them."

"Okay, great, you caught Phobos! Now where's Will?!" Taranee snapped, resuming her mood of righteous indignation.

"Over here, Guardian." Zuko directed her to Will's holding area.

Nearby, the air glittered in the low light, but Taranee only had eyes for one thing.

The Energy Guardian was kept in stasis behind a field of unbreakable Candracan energy. She was unconscious, but otherwise unharmed.

"Will?" Taranee put her hand on the weird energy field in an attempt to reach her best friend, but there was no response to either her spoken or telepathic entreaties.

"She's asleep." Zuko informed her. "She'll be safe down here. They both will. Until your work is done."

Her justifiable anger deflated, Tara's hope of being reunited with her friends rested on a single slender thread - Zuko. Taranee had no choice but to obey the Fire Lord.

For the time being, anyway.

Because Zuko was holding all of the cards.

So Taranee left the 'special storage area' with the crafty Fire Lord.

And consequently didn't hear the weak mental reply from Phobos.

_T, Taranee?_

000000000000012

Things were looking up for the Avatar and his group.

Cal grew like a weed, and regained his memories in the process. Soon, he looked much like Hay Lin and Irma remembered, and he knew who they were, also.

The newly re-christened Caleb gave the girls much hope!

And gave the other warriors in camp a new 'opponent'. For training purposes, anyway!

Not that any could beat Caleb. But in trying, they became much better fighters!

Finally, Bato (Chief Hakoda's best friend), jested that he couldn't take any more affronts to the South Pole Water Tribe's honor and challenged Caleb to a friendly duel.

Unlike the other, less experienced fighters, the wily veteran warrior waited for Caleb to make the first move. Bato grabbed the charging Meridianite, seeking to simultaneously block him and turn his energy against him. A typical Water Tribe tai chi tactic.

"Good one, Bato!" Caleb applauded his adversary's move.

Then, faster than Bato could react, the son of Julian slid under Bato and twisted out of his grip. Caleb quickly used his new, advantageous position behind the Water Tribesman to take out the back of his knees, dropping the South Pole denizen unceremoniously on his rear end!

"Oof!" Bato yelped. "But not as good as you, Caleb!" Bato said, rubbing his tender parts.

"Try me, Caleb!" Hay Lin dared, assuming a fighting stance.

"Are you sure, Hay Lin?" Caleb gingerly asked the slight Air Guardian. The boy from Meridian had no desire to battle her, lest he accidentally hurt the young girl.

"Yes!" Hay Lin insisted.

Hay Hay was eager to try new things. She had posed as the Avatar during the Eclipse invasion of the Fire Nation, and had even cut her hair off to better impersonate the Air Monk. Her hair had begun to grow back in, but was still quite short, not much more than a crewcut, her long pigtails having been sacrificed to the needs of the mission. Hay Lin had also stopped wearing Avatarworld robes, opting instead for more familiar attire sewn by her, and at that moment had on what looked to be a sheer blouse wrapped around a tube top and knotted, along with low rise capri jeans. Though quite stylish among her peers back home in Heatherfield, the look was unknown in her present locale. She chose the jeans for comfort and durability in the Earth Kingdom clime as well as the reassuring feeling they evoked, something Hay Lin sorely needed after Sokka died and her friends were lost to the Fire Nation. The Guardian of Air, therefore, appeared to most, at first glance, to be a young boy.

Caleb jumped at the rather butch Asian girl, who effortlessly avoided his clumsy attack (he was obviously going easy on the Guardian lass). Hay Lin flew straight up, rolled into a loop, then came back down behind the Meridian warrior with her twin fists pulled together!

The resulting blow to his back knocked the breath out of Caleb's lungs!

While he gasped for air, Hay Lin apologized profusely.

"I'm so sorry, Caleb! Are you OK?" she inquired.

"Just got (wheeze) a lucky shot in! M' fine. *Huh huh*" he gasped.

"Wow! Where did you learn how to do that?" the approving Chief Hakoda of the Water Tribe asked.

"Oh, I call that the 'flying fists of fury'! I did it against Frost once!" Hay Lin bragged. "And Phobos, too, I think! Or maybe that was the 'flying _feet_ of fury'?" she rambled on.

"You should teach Aang that move!" the Chief suggested.

"Teach me what now?" Aang had overheard the comment. He was practicing water bending nearby, but halted his work when he saw Hay Lin fight Caleb.

"Hay Lin's air bending forms!" Chief Hakoda declared.

"You have air bending forms??" Aang eagerly inquired. "Like what?"

"Well, sort of. But they're not like yours." the modest Miss Lin replied. Then she threw modesty to the wind and listed her 'moves'. "Let's see, there's the air ram, the flying fists that I just used on Caleb, the air dagger (although that's kind of nasty!), the..."

"Hay Lin? Could you excuse us for a moment?" Katara interrupted. "Aang? Can I speak to you for a second?"

"Sure!" Hay Lin cheerily chirped.

"What's up, Katara?" Aang innocently asked once the two were away from the others.

"What are you doing, Aang? I thought this was your time to practice water bending??" Katara criticized.

"Well, sure, normally..." Aang hesitated while he tried to think up a good excuse to tell his water bending master. "But..."

"Aang, she's not an air bender, and those aren't 'air bender' forms!" Katara lectured the Air Nomad. "They're not the peaceful ways of your people! Her air moves are nothing but mindless violence!"

Aang was shaken by this verbal assault from one friend on another, and let Katara have it!

"Huh?? Katara, it's not right for you to judge Hay Lin!" a testy Aang shot back. "She's from a different world, so her ways are bound to be a little unusual. But that's no reason to attack her for it!"

"I, I'm sorry, Aang!" Katara apologized. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"Then how did you mean it?!?" Aang bitched.

"I...didn't want you to make a mistake. That's all." Katara hung her head in shame. Though she couldn't admit it out loud, the young girl of the Water Tribe felt the Air Guardian threatened the special relationship she had with the youthful air bender.

Aang had a change of heart, as well. "I'm sorry if I was a little harsh, Katara! I know you only said that because you care. But consider this: Even among the Air Nomads, I once heard of an ancient group that practiced offensive air bending, or air fighting. They were called the Air Warriors. So maybe this is the right way for her."

"But is this the right way for you, Aang?" Katara tenderly inquired. "Can you turn your back on your beliefs so easily?"

"To be honest, Katara? I don't know." the Avatar admitted. "But we need some edge over the Fire Lord! Maybe this is it??"

"I'll tell you what, Katara." Aang offered, grasping both her hands in his. "If you keep an open mind, I'll see what Hay Lin can teach me, and I'll try to show her what I do. Deal?"

"Okay, Aang! Deal it is!" Katara had some misgivings, but agreed in order to keep the peace.

000000000000013

Taranee tore through the turbulent August sky, alone with her thoughts.

Though she traveled, some would say recklessly, directly through a line of thunderstorms, the loud, electrical wet masses of precipitation didn't bother her.

The rain evaporated before it touched her heated skin.

As for the noise and lightning, she had faced far worse in her battles against the earth benders of Ba Sing Se and Fire Lord Ozai. The thunder in her ears and the megavolts that fried her nerve endings were as nothing compared to the pain in her heart.

For only one thing concerned Taranee Cook.

She sought an answer to the plight of her and her friends, the Guardians of the Veil.

And so, while brief sparks of ionized particles illuminated her implacable features, Taranee's mind drifted back in time…

_I can't free your friend Will or give back your precious jewel now. These are dangerous times. The Avatar is a pawn of otherworldly forces playing a deadly game, and our world pays the price! I mean to end that game, and restore the world to the way it should be. _

_Spoken like a true megalomaniac!_

_Have you stopped to consider why you and your friends are here? I have. It's to help our world recover from the pain and suffering inflicted on it for the last 100 years!_

_" 'Pain & suffering' inflicted by the __Fire Nation__!"_

"_I don't deny my country's role in this. But our peace is fragile. Not everyone follows me, even though I am the rightful Fire Lord. Also, there are many who used war to gain wealth and power, on both sides of the conflict, and will stop at nothing to see the war continue. They actively plot against me, threatening all of our gains! That's why I need your help to end the war for good! I can't do this alone._

_I'm not the bad guy here! I only do what I have to do! And I acquired this 'Heart' fair and square!_

_Where are you going?_

_I have to think about things! I'll be back! _

_**SLAM!**_

000000000000014

In their private quarters, Zuko conversed with his love.

"I wish you'd get the fire bender treatment, Mai. It'd make me feel better!" Zuko stated, speaking of the way Taranee, the Fire Guardian, could (while aided by Zuko's Heart of Candracar) grant any citizen of the Fire Nation fire bending abilities.

'I can take care of myself." Mai sternly declared.

"I know that!" Zuko was frustrated. "But what if something were to happen to you?? I'd never forgive myself!"

"Huh? What's going to happen, Zuko??" a suspicious Mai inquired.

"Well, there is a war on!" Fire Lord Zuko reasoned. "Plus, there are a few things I'm working on, so I may not be around as much as either of us would like. But if I'm successful..." Zuko continued, a big smile on his face. "...Very soon now, we'll each have everything we ever wanted!"

"What? But you're the Fire Lord! And you've got that crazy jewel! What else could you want?" the incredulous Mai said.

(Little did Mai know, Zuko never wanted either).

"You mean besides you? Oh, you'll find out." Zuko said, a twinkle in his eye. "It'll be great! Trust me!"

"I have to go now! I'll see you later! (Mwah!)" He kissed her goodbye.

Leaving a mystified Mai behind.

"Better than being Fire Lord?? Zuko!" Mai called after him. But he was already gone.

"Crazy nut." Mai flashed a rare smile. "Must be why I love him!"

000000000000015

Taranee looked down. Even though it was raining heavily, she could see she had flown all the way to the Earth Kingdom!

The Fire Guardian briefly considered finding her two friends, Irma and Hay Lin, who were still at large.

Then realized she had no idea where they were. It had been weeks since she last saw them, running to get help from Aang the Avatar.

Tara Cook sincerely believed they'd be safe with the Air Nomad's group, but that assertion was now seriously in doubt. She had studied the reports of the recent invasion by the Allied forces, and it only mentioned one air bender - Aang - and one female water bender - Katara. There was nothing in the accounts about her two world-tossed Guardian companions.

This worried Taranee. Cornelia was right about one thing. The Earth Guardian and herself, the Fire Guardian, were more powerful than the lost Air and Water Guardians.

She'd never forgive herself if something happened to them!

Then Taranee banished such morbidity from her mind.

_They had to be okay. _She told herself, over and over. _They had to!_

With no better option before her, Tara continued her aimless wandering.

And it turned out to be not so aimless after all.

She found herself over the parched, rain-free desert, and immediately thought of Wan Shi Tong and his Spirit Library.

Wan Shi Tong, he who knows 10,000 things.

Wan Shi Tong, probably the smartest being anywhere!

Perhaps he had the answers she so desperately sought!

So Taranee made a beeline for the Knowledge Spirit's Library

Zooming through the window of the only tower of that magnificient edifice to poke above the sands, the Guardian of Fire discovered an oddly quiescient Wan Shi Tong, not absorbing knowledge among the vast stacks of his library, as would usually be the case, but instead reclining in his study, slowly sipping tea.

"Um, excuse me? Hello?" the bemused Guardian ventured. "Wan Shi Tong, sir?"

"Hmmm?" the ancient Spirit stirred. "Oh, look, my dear, we have a visitor." he said to one of his knowledge-seeking foxes, playfully rubbing its head. The canine whined in response.

"And what do YOU want?" The Great Owl's tone changed. It was harsh and demanding.

"Er, well, I was wondering if you could help answer a few questions I have?" Taranee nervously asked.

"I see." Wan said. He downed another sip of his drink, then smacked his beak. "And what do you offer in return?"

"I, well, this trip was kind of last second, so I, I don't have any books or scrolls or anything. I'm sorry." Taranee hung her head.

"Tsk. Humans! Not even a proper barter!" Wan Shi Tong scoffed, then went back to sipping his beverage.

"Please! You helped me before! I have to find my friends!" Taranee pleaded.

"I'm not some finder of lost souls, Miss Taranee Cook!" Wan replied, remembering the Guardian's name. "You can show yourself out." he added, without getting up from his chair or looking at her.

"No! I need your help, Wan Shi Tong!" the girl from Heatherfield cried. "My two friends are missing, plus Zuko captured one and turned another into a vegetable!"

The Owl Spirit's ears pricked up.

"I, I don't know what to do, or have anyone else to turn to! Please." Taranee begged, hoping for some small amount of grace from the otherworldly Spirit.

"You said Zuko turned your friend into a vegetable?" Wan inquired.

"Yes. Well, that's what she appears to be." Taranee answered. " Zuko claims she's a 'Plant Spirit', but that's crazy!"

Wan froze. He turned away from the Fire Guardian, rose from his chair and began pacing.

"So. He's really going to do it, isn't he? the Knowledge Spirit muttered under his breath.

"Do what? What's going on?" a far more assertive Taranee wanted to know. "Are you talking about Zuko and this war??"

"Zuko???" a mystified Wan Shi Tong replied. Then he smiled. "No, this isn't about Zuko. He's nothing. A herald, maybe. No, not quite that. More like a messenger. At most, an intermediary."

"Huh?" Taranee was confused. "What's that supposed to mean??"

"So." Wan inquired, swishing his drink as he did so. "How does she look?"

"She who?" Taranee was totally baffled now. "What are you going on about?!"

"The Plant Spirit. Does she have bark for skin, branches for arms and legs, and glorious green leaf hair?" Wan asked. Seriously.

"Cornelia had a few twigs growing out of her when I saw her, but she has blonde hair...What am I saying?! What does that have to do with anything?!!" Taranee ranted. "What's going on, Wan Shi Tong??"

"Merely making idle conversation, my dear." Wan innocently replied.

"No. You know something." the perceptive schoolgirl noted. "Does Zuko plan to use Cornelia in some way? Tell me!!" she demanded, as angry flames danced in her eyes.

"Pfftt!" the Spirit of paper scrolls ignored the fiery girl's threats. "It's too late. You can't stop it. No one can. It's inevitable."

"What is?" Taranee inquired.

Wan Shi Tong didn't answer her, and continued his soliloquy.

"He's planned this for so long. I didn't think he'd go through with it. But, then, that only proves I don't know everything." Wan rambled on.

"What are you babbling about??" Taranee demanded. The Owl's evasiveness worried her, and made Tara even more angry and upset. "Explain yourself, Spirit!" Fire shot out of the Guardian's eyes, igniting a scrap of paper on the floor.

"The end of the world." Wan mentioned it as if it were nothing, and resumed drinking.

"What the? Who's doing this? How can I stop it?" Taranee had a lot of questions after that bombshell was dropped on her!

Wan smiled. Then turned somber and downed another drink. "Go home, Taranee Cook. There's nothing more you can do." He took another sip. "It'll all be over soon."

"But what..." Taranee stopped. She noticed a familiar odor emanating from Wan Shi Tong's glass. "Sniff sniff." It smelled like her dad's liquor cabinet! "That isn't tea, is it? Bastard! Drinking yourself to oblivion, when you could be doing something about it!" The Guardian struck the glass, and it shattered against the floor.

"Huh. That was good wine." the alcoholic Owl Spirit mopped it up. "Go back to your world, girl. While you still can."

"And don't come back here. I'm returning my Library to the Spirit World." Wan Shi Tong announced. Then he spread his expansive wings and began flapping. "Leave now, or be doomed to wander the Spirit World forever!"

The winged Fire Guardian had no choice but to exit the Library. Any hope she had to save her friends was gone.

However, instead of flying in a straight line back to the Fire Nation, Taranee made a detour. Near the Northern Earth Kingdom planned village of Pleasant Valley Gardens (formerly Quiet Valley), a confused and upset Taranee stopped by the ancient burial mounds and picked up an item left as an offering on a makeshift altar.

Her eyeglasses. Even though the corrective lenses gave the now 20/20 sighted Guardian girl headaches, Taranee sought solace in the familiar.

She put them on and continued her journey.

000000000000016

In the courtyard of the Fire Palace, Mai talked to an old friend.

"Guess what, Ty Lee?" Mai teased. "I think Shen likes you!"

"What guy doesn't?" said the nonchalant acrobat, cartwheeling across the lawn.

Then Mai grew pensive.

"You know, Ty." Mai began. "Sometimes I wonder if what they did to Azula was right. I mean, the Boiling Rock? That's pretty harsh!"

"Good riddance!" exclaimed Ty Lee, who was now walking on her hands. "Azula is an evil witch! Did you know she threatened to burn me so I'd join her?!!"

"Yeah, I know, but..." Mai thought about the prison with its hellish reputation. It still didn't seem right to her.

"Forget her!" Ty Lee yelped, somersaulting off the tree trunk in the courtyard. "Let's talk about a far more interesting topic: How are you and Zuko?"

"Things are going great!" Mai answered.

"That's not what I heard!" the gossipy Ty Lee replied, as she swung from the arms of the Eternal Fire Lord statue in the center of the courtyard. "I hear he spends a lot of time on some 'secret project'."

"Well, sure, he told me himself he was working on some things." the annoyed Mai retorted.

"Did you know Zuko keeps that Earth girl, Cordelia..." Ty began.

"Cornelia." Mai testily corrected her.

"Right! Whatever! Did you know he keeps her in a room high up in the tower? That's messed up!" Ty Lee commented, as she hung upside-down from a tree branch.

"Zuko told me about that, too! He said she has some sort of condition, so he isolated her and has to take special care of her." Mai informed her friend.

"Yeah! I'm sure he does!" Ty Lee cracked, as she spun 'round and 'round the outstretched branch.

"What's that supposed to mean, Ty?" Mai abhorred the insinuation, and shot Ty Lee a withering stare. "If you have something to say about me and Zuko, say it to my face!!" she snapped.

Ty jumped off the tree branch and landed in a catlike crouch.

"Hey! Easy! I'm just joking! The guards, you know, like to flap their gums, but they're probably full of crap! Forget I said anything. Zuko loves you, and that's the important thing, right?" Ty Lee added, in a last-ditch attempt to spare herself from her companion's wrath.

"Okay." Mai eased up, and her anger passed. "Sorry if I jumped all over you."

"It's alright, Mai. I understand! Totally!" a smiling Ty Lee, feet planted firmly on the ground, said.

000000000000017

"You see, Hay Lin?" Aang assumed an air bending stance and demonstrated his air bending forms. "Air bending is all about coiling and uncoiling and circular movement." he lectured as he quickly moved his hands and feet around him.

"Hmmm. I see what you mean, Aang." Hay Lin studiously copied the Air Monk's techniques and moved her hands around like he did, generating a small rotating column of air in the process.

"Yap! I think I got it!" Hay Lin cheered her success.

Then the miniature air funnel grew and grew until it took off all by itself! The errant tornado then flattened six of the camp's tents, forcing their occupants to fight their way out of the collapsed canvas!

"Oops! Sorry!" Hay Lin apologized.

"Sigh!" Aang was frustrated. He tried very hard to teach Hay Lin air bending, but they weren't making any progress! "Let's take a break." Aang wondered if other master air benders ever had days like these. Then he recalled his own training years ago, and the rough time he put his Sifu, Monk Gyatso, through.

"Maybe we can practice some of my moves, Aang?" Hay Lin offered.

"Maybe later, Hay Lin." Aang wearily responded. Hay Lin's 'moves' weren't exactly air bender forms. In fact, they were downright violent, even a bit nasty! There was the human missile (or, as Hay Hay liked to call it, the 'flying fists of fury'!) The double-barreled air ram, powerful enough to knock over a stampeding herd of Saber-tooth Moose-lions! The small but highly effective air dagger, capable of cutting through just about anything! (Think of a tornado propelling a leaf into a tree trunk, then multiply that by ten!) And the vacuum attack, in essence robbing your opponent of the life-giving air they needed to breathe!

Although Aang was philosophically opposed to such crude tactics, ever since he failed to save his people, the Air Nomads, because he ran away, he's felt a need to be more flexible in his methods. Besides, they needed _some _way to defeat the Fire Lord! An extra bit of something the villainous Zuko couldn't counter!

However, Katara was nearby, and quite possibly keeping a watchful eye on their activities, so the young Avatar didn't want to disappoint the master water bender.

"Aw, come on, Aang! It'll be fun!" Hay Lin cajoled the reluctant Air Monk. "Besides, I have something new! It's based on the T-Shirt cannons back home!"

"What's a 'T-Shirt cannon'?" the curious Avatar inquired.

"It's what they use to shoot T-Shirts and stuff into the audience!" Hay Lin (partially) explained, making a reference to television shows and sporting events familiar to Heatherfieldians, but which were inexplicable to those of the Avatar's world. "It's all air power! I'll show you!"

The Air Guardian then cupped her hands, forming a long cylindrical wind funnel that fed a large supply of air to the rear of the vaporous construct.

"Now drop something into the funnel." Hay Lin directed the Air Nomad.

Aang picked up yesterday's trash and dumped it into the swirling tunnel of air. It rotated 'round and 'round, but otherwise the debris didn't go anywhere at all.

Hay Lin then jerked her hands, and all of the air stored in the rear of the funnel surged forward, blasting the rubbish clear across the campsite!

"Wow!" Aang was impressed. "Could you teach me how to do that??"

"Sure, Aang!" Hay Hay beamed. She was pleased to see the last air bender smile once again. "No problem!"

"Hey! Katara! You have to see this!" Aang ran to the side of his water bending master and close friend. "We could probably use this 'air cannon' thing of Hay Lin's when we invade the Fire Nation!"

"Yeah. About that." a voice behind Aang said, tapping the Avatar on the shoulder.

It was the warriors Caleb and Bato.

Covered in garbage! Rinds of muzzlegrub sandwiches. Fishheads. Rotting meat. And other things too terrible to mention!

"Whoops!" Aang exclaimed. "Sorry, guys! I didn't know that would happen! We were using this 'air cannon', and..."

"We?" Caleb said, cocking a disapproving eye towards the sometimes over-exuberant Guardian of Air.

"IjustrememberedsomewhereIhavetogo!Bye!" Hay Lin hurriedly announced, then zipped out of there like a shot!

"And I thought Blunk was bad!" Caleb bitched, as he carefully removed the smelly waste from his person.

"Aang..." Katara gingerly said. "...I don't think this is working."

"But, Katara, we have to, I mean...!" Aang stammered.

"Aang, you know as well as I do there's only one way we're going to defeat Zuko!" the girl of the South Pole Water Tribe darkly hinted.

"You mean?" Aang didn't even want to consider it! But they were out of options.

"Yes, Aang. " Katara sadly replied, her heart heavy with trepidation. She exhaled, and finished voicing her thought. "The Avatar State."

000000000000018

The dispirited Taranee didn't even bother flying into the Fire Lord's Palace.

She walked in, instead.

And immediately got grief from the big boss.

"Well, that's a new look for you!" Zuko cackled, referring to the Guardian's eyewear.

Then the joking Zuko was gone, and in his place stood stern Fire Lord Zuko."Your duties have been piling up. Where did you go??" he demanded.

"I flew around a bit. Saw an old acquaintance named Wan Shi Tong. That's all." Taranee dryly reported.

"You saw the Knowledge Spirit, eh?" Zuko replied, displaying his Spirit acumen. "What did he tell you?"

"Not much." Tara answered.

"That's the problem with beings like Wan Shi Tong. They're practically useless! All that knowledge, and no judgment. They have so much information, they can see all points of view, all possible courses of action, but are paralyzed. They can't make a decision!" Zuko commented. Then he put the ball back in the Fire Guardian's court. "I trust you won't have that problem?"

"No." an angry Taranee spat.

"No, what?" the Fire Lord pressed his assistant for the proper response.

"No, Fi-re Looord Zuuu-ko." The words crawled out of the Guardian's mouth with such difficulty and rancor it was a wonder they made it out at all!

Zuko smiled in victory. His will had carried the day. Again.

Taranee wanted to be out of Zuko's presence in the worst way.

But before she left the throne room, she had one question to ask.

"Zuko, you wouldn't do anything..._dangerous_ with the Heart, would you?" the Guardian of Fire calmly asked, the anger in her earlier voice replaced by concern.

"What are you talking about??" Zuko replied, his annoyance at such an inquiry made plain by his tone.

Taranee didn't want to discuss what the Owl Spirit told her - the end of the world! But Zuko wasn't the cause, he was…a messenger? What did that mean??? Tara knew Zuko couldn't command the Heart of Candracar if he was unworthy of its power, so as she left the throne room she turned to him and said "I hope, when the time comes, you do the right thing."

Zuko had no words for that biting critique, which cut him to the core. Despite his tangy-flavored fire ale drink, he was left with a bitter taste in his mouth.

000000000000019

After a long audience with that week's complainants, the harried Chief of Staff, Shen Ming, fulfilled his last task of the day.

He approached the Fire Lord and passed the note to him, trembling as he did so.

Because it was another request from Azula, Zuko's hated sister!

Zuko read it, then nonchalantly balled it up and flung it aside.

Then, with equal nonchalance, issued the following order: "Have Azula punished."

Then he thought about what he was saying.

"No." he corrected himself. "Have her _severely_ punished. Break her legs. Flay the skin from her bones. Something like that."

"Sire, what?" Shen sought Zuko's guidance on what exactly he wanted done to his sister.

The cruel Fire Lord turned to his aide and clarified his intentions. "Something permanent."

000000000000020

_Flashback_

_"Why are you telling me all this?" the suspicious Prince asked the Face-Stealer. "What's in it for you?"_

_"I merely crave a simple boon." the crafty Spirit replied. "Bring me the Guardian known as Cornelia, the one with the hair of gold."_

_"What? No, I won't let you hurt an innocent person, even if they did oppose me!" the honorable Prince stated._

_"Oh no, you have me all wrong, noble Prince Zuko!" Koh slyly said. "I only wish to help her as I helped you - by showing the girl her destiny!"_

_"Why would you, of all Spirits, do such a thing?" Zuko inquired._

_"Like you, I do not agree with the state the world is in. We can change that, you and I, Prince Zuko." the slick-talking Spirit said. "And no one has to get hurt. Well, only those that deserve it!" he chuckled._

_"So...How would we go about this great task, o Spirit?" Zuko, falling for the honeyed words of the ancient, malevolent being, curiously asked._

_"Find the Guardians. You will need their help to overthrow Fire Lord Ozai. And afterwards, their special knowledge and abilities will be most useful to you." Koh spelled out the plan in great detail._

_Zuko listened with interest. It was a lot to take in. Then he had a question._

_"Just one thing, Spirit. When do you wish me to deliver this 'Cornelia'?"_

_"You will know when the time is right, o Prince." Koh hissed. "It will be after the girl is tested, and at the height of her power. But she must come here willingly."_

_End Flashback_

000000000000021

Time passed.

Cornelia the 'Plant Spirit' grew increasingly more distant and erratic.

She spent much of her time in the Tower, but when her friend Taranee was around, which was as often as she could spare (barring her many duties for the Fire Lord, that is), the Fire Guardian took her friend to the Royal Gardens. Being so close to Mother Earth calmed the Hale girl's own spirit.

The Gardens even, for fleeting moments, returned to Cornelia a certain lucidity, and in those moments Taranee felt like she had her bosom companion from Heatherfield back with her.

Though never that close even after both became Guardians (Taranee was best friends with Will, while Cornelia's bff was Elyon), Taranee thought the whole horrid experience had at least one positive effect - that of forging a closer bond with Cornelia.

But even that didn't last.

Cornelia's lucid moments came less and less frequently, and when they did occur, were shorter than the previous event.

And worse.

"T, Taranee?" the Earth girl gasped, her Plant Spirit-like brain connecting the image of the woman before her to their shared past.

"Yes, Cornelia! I'm here!" Taranee shouted, full of joy to speak once again to her old friend.

"Oh God." Cornelia realized where she was, and what her situation was like. "We're never going to see our friends again, or go back home, are we? Will. Irma. Hay Lin. Mom and Dad. Lillian. Elyon. Caleb..." Cornelia cried, but her tears did more than wet the fertile ground. The drops caused sprouts to emerge from the soil.

"Don't say that! We'll see them again!" Taranee said, promising that which she had no way of guaranteeing.

"No!!!" Cornelia angrily picked up a line of rocks from the Garden with her telekinesis and hurled them at the Eternal Fire Lord Statue in the courtyard, obliterating it. "We're in **hell**!" she shouted.

Then fell to her knees.

"A green hell." the young earth elemental added. The rage had passed, replaced by a tired acceptance of the nature of her existence.

"No, Cornelia, you're wrong!" Taranee consoled her fellow Guardian. "Things will get better! I know they will! I..."

Taranee stopped.

Cornelia was 'gone'.

Again.

The Earth Guardian's anger was spent, and with it, her clear mind.

Now the kneeling Cornelia was nothing more than a human-sized potted plant, but a potted plant inexplicably linked to all the other plants in the world.

Immediately, she began talking to greenery all over the globe.

And they talked right back to her.

"You're not helping, you know." the voice, from a man heretofore hidden in the shadows, spoke.

"Zuko!!!" Taranee said the name with a hatred that surprised even her, the most passionate Guardian of them all!

"You're confusing her." Zuko lectured the Guardian of Fire. "You're reminding Cornelia of her old life, when she's in the middle of coming to terms with what she is now - the Plant Spirit."

"I'm here because I care about Cornelia! She's like family to me!" Taranee Cook railed. "But what would you know about that?! Your family either can't stand you, or is in prison!!"

Taranee scored a direct hit, but Zuko didn't even flinch.

"All I'm saying is, Cornelia needs time to acclimate herself to being this 'Plant Spirit'." Zuko laid out his theory. "Once she's in control of that, she'll probably be able to control her human side, too. But she can't do that if you're around, and she's constantly being pulled in two different directions."

"So I should leave her alone??" Taranee bitched. "That's your great advice?!"

"If you truly cared for her, you would." Zuko answered.

Taranee seethed with fury at this upstart, smug, scarface, creepy S.O.B.! How dare he...

"You know I'm right." Zuko added.

And the worst thing about him? He was!

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, take a couple weeks off. I don't have anything that needs your attention at the moment." Zuko generously offered. "A vacation would do the both of you good. I'll make sure Cornelia is well taken care of while you're gone."

"You bastard!" Taranee cried, molten tears dripping out of fiery orbs. "You'll pay for this, Zuko! I swear to God you'll pay!!!" Taranee promised as she flew out of the Royal Gardens.

"Yeah, yeah." Zuko waved her off. "Like I haven't been paying all my life!"

"Oh, one more thing!" he yelled after her. "Make sure you're back in two weeks! I have a special job for you to do then!"

000000000000022

Unnoticed by any of the Fire Nation's watchdogs or spies, Ty Lee went to the market in Capital City and acquired a messenger hawk.

She wrote a note, attached it to the hawk, and let it fly.

The paper read: _Azula_

_The deed is done._

_Keep your promise, and leave me alone forever!_

000000000000023

"Zuko..." the voice, which sounded like spring rain hitting a meadow on the top of a mountain and running downhill, said.

The door to the throne room had swung silently open and there stood the Earth Guardian/Plant Spirit, Cornelia Hale, her long blonde hair waving in the breeze created by the door's passage.

"We're sorry, sire!" said one of the two guards, who ran in after the errant Guardian. "We couldn't stop her! She...!"

With a casual wave of her hand, the telekinetic Guardian sent the Fire Nation guard duo crashing into the wall!

**WHAM!**

"...You have to stop it." Cornelia's vine-like tongue croaked.

"Cornelia?" Zuko gasped, surprised to see her there, confronting him. He quickly regained his faculties and issued an order. "Everyone out. Now!" the Fire Lord commanded all those with business before the royal court, as well as court observers and staff.

"Cornelia? What is it?" a much more gentle Zuko inquired, once they were alone.

Cornelia, in a rare moment of clarity, answered him "They're clear-cutting the forest on the Northwest coast."

"Oh. Well, I'll..." Zuko began.

The focused Cornelia finished her statement. "And if you don't stop it..." She turned, and looked directly at the Fire Lord with a weird intensity. "...I will."

"What??" Zuko was stunned. _She's making threats?? About something happening hundreds of miles away?? What is going on with her? _the teen ruler pondered.

"Er, okay, Cornelia!" Zuko speedily recovered, and sought to demonstrate his control of the situation. "I'll send messenger hawks with a royal decree, and a brigade to back it up!"

"I'll even send airships, for the fastest response." Zuko added, hoping to placate her.

He looked deep into the Earth Guardian's sky blue eyes to get some acknowledgement, some sign from her, that she understood what kind of person he was. Or, rather, the kind of person Zuko thought he was, that he was _trying _to be, but...

...Her usually sparking blue eyes were now full of green.

Cornelia was gone.

Again.

Silent and unmoving.

"Guards!" Fire Lord Zuko called to his men stationed outside the throne room.

They entered the royal chamber, and Zuko commanded "Take Lady Cornelia to relax in the Royal Gardens until sundown. Oh, and send for my airship captain!"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Air is the element of freedom. The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom.  
- Iroh, "Bitter Work"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

000000000000024

In a clearing, Aang the Avatar meditated.

Every other member of the Allied camp hung back. Some fearful. Some merely curious.

But all gave the air bender plenty of space.

"What's Aang doing?" Irma piped up.

"He's trying to activate his Avatar State." Katara informed the Water Guardian.

"Avatar State?? Aang mentioned that before! What is it?" Irma asked.

"It's when Aang taps into the knowledge and bending skills of past Avatars, giving him greater power." Katara explained. "It's only been a defense mechanism so far, but if Aang could control it, the war would be over very quickly!"

"Really? Sounds cool!" Irma yipped.

"And it'd be a lot easier if I had some quiet!" an annoyed Aang yelled.

"Sor-ree!" Irma sheepishly replied.

In total silence, Aang concentrated on his formidable task.

Suddenly, his air bender tattoos glowed, and a wind whipped around him, raising him off the ground.

Everyone was impressed (except Katara, who was more than a bit anxious).

But as quickly as Aang's tattoos lit up, they lost their radiance.

The winds, however, continued to swirl around the air bender, steadily building in intensity and power!

The shock on Aang's face was apparent to all who stood nearby, but no one felt it more keenly than his closest and dearest friend, Katara.

"Aang!" she cried.

The South Pole water bender ran to the aid of the upset Avatar, which only made Aang more distraught!

"No! Katara! Don't!! I can't control…!" Aang worried.

Katara tried to bend water in the shape of a lasso to catch Aang and bring him back down to Earth, but the biting, cyclonic winds circling the young Air Monk sucked the liquid lariat in, yanking Katara off her feet!

She fell to the ground, to the horror of the watching Avatar!

"Unfff!" Katara gasped, as her head plowed into the dirt.

"Katara!!!" the hapless Air Nomad screamed.

His concern for the water girl was no help in controlling the windstorm that enveloped him!

The air bender rose higher and higher into the now turbulent sky, and he couldn't do a thing to stop it!

While some (most notably Chief Hakoda, Katara's father) ran to the Water Tribe girl's aid, others tried to help Aang.

Caleb threw a rope through the becalmed bottom of the floating, tornadic prison, but there was no way for the whirling Aang to grab hold of it!

Toph, with Irma guiding her aim, tried to encase the desperate Avatar in a column of rock, but the furious cyclone supercell tore the mini-mountain to bits!

"Hay Lin!!" Caleb yelled, over the roar of the howling winds. "You have to make a tornado that spins in the opposite direction! That's the only way to cancel it out!!"

"But, but I'd have to be transformed to do that!" Hay Hay wailed. "I can't make something that big!"

"You've already done it! In practice, with Aang!" Caleb pointed out. "Please, Hay Lin!" he beseeched her, as Aang drifted further and further away.

"O, okay!" a nervous Hay Lin acquiesced to the Meridianite's pleas. The Air Guardian moved her hands like Aang showed her earlier, only this time counter-clockwise. "Here goes nothing!"

A funnel formed in the Guardian of Air's hands, a rotating column of air that grew ever larger until it was nearly as awesome a display of nature's fury as Aang's vicious vortex!

The competing, counter-clockwise cyclone rammed into Aang's tornado in a thunderous explosion of sound, dust and debris!

When it all finally settled, the Air Nomad lay still and silent upon the ground.

"Aang!" The recovered Katara was the first one on the scene. "Are you alright?!!" she howled, as the gifted water bender laid her healing hands upon him.

"Unhhhh. Katara? You're okay?" the Avatar replied, a bit of a dry rasp in his voice, the unsettling winds having slightly dehydrated him.

"Oh, thank the Spirits!" Katara hugged the last air bender as if she would never let go. "I love you so much, Aang! I couldn't bear for anything to happen to you!!"

"R, really, Katara??" Aang was stunned! Katara did love him as much as he adored her!

"Yes!" Katara replied, still holding on tight. "It'd be like losing another brother!"

"Oh. Like a brother. Right." Aang mumbled his disappointment to himself.

Katara eased off of the Air Monk and he rose to greet the others equally concerned for his well-being. The Chief of the South Pole Water Tribe and his warriors. Toph. Caleb. Hay Lin. And Irma, who couldn't resist taking a jab at the flighty air bender, now that it was clear he was unharmed.

"Hey, airhead!" Irma kidded, using her pet name for Aang. "What happened to you out there?"

"I don't know." Aang scratched his head. "It was weird! I opened myself up to my past lives, like before, to gain their wisdom and experience, and everything seemed fine, but just like that!" Aang snapped his fingers. "They were gone! And I had no clue what to do!! But that shouldn't have happened!!" Aang moaned.

'The Avatar State was always a longshot, Aang." Katara sensitively said, trying to make the youngster feel better. "You probably need to be in perfect balance to use it. Try those exercises the Guru suggested before attempting it again, okay?"

"Sure. That sounds like good advice, Katara. Sorry for worrying you guys." Aang humbly apologized.

The big show over, everyone returned to their assigned tasks in the Allied camp.

Except Hay Lin. She stuck by the boy Avatar, because she had something important to discuss with him.

"Aang?" the thoughtful Air Guardian asked. "Why don't you tell Katara how you really feel about her?"

"Hay Lin..." Aang tried to discourage the Heatherfield girl from talking about the sore subject.

"Look at you!" Hay Hay railed, noting the pained look on the young Avatar's face. "It's obvious it's eating you up inside! You can't go on like this! It's affecting you terribly!"

"Hay Lin, I can't tell Katara! I just can't!!" Aang cried.

"Boys! What's so hard about expressing your feelings?" an amused Hay Lin challenged the Air Nomad. "Repeat after me, Aang: 'I love you, Katara.' See? Four simple words!"

"You don't understand!" Aang pouted. "It's not that I don't want to tell Katara I love her! It's that I CAN'T tell her! As the Avatar, I'm not allowed to feel that way."

"That's crazy, Aang!" the skeptical air sprite remarked. "Who told you that??"

"The Guru." Aang answered. "He said to control the Avatar State, I had to let go of ALL earthly attachments!" Then the despairing young multi-bender, upon whom the fate of the whole world rested, hung his head and added "Even love."

"Oh. Wow." Hay Hay was stunned. "That's...really tough. Sorry, Aang. I don't have any advice for that situation." Hay Lin was starting to realize this Avatar business was something else altogether, and far out of her experience. However, she wanted to be supportive of her air bending friend, so she brightened and said "But you'll figure out something. You're the Avatar, after all! Everyone's behind you, Aang! We're all counting on you! Um, but no pressure. Heh. See ya later!" she added, as she insincerely waved goodbye. Hay Lin felt real uncomfortable, and wanted to get out of there before she said something even worse!

"Yeah. Great. Thanks." Aang glumly said.

_I finally find another 'air bender', and even SHE doesn't understand what I'm going through! _Aang dejectedly thought to himself.

The young Avatar had never felt more alone.

000000000000025

In a private room somewhere in the Fire Nation's Capital City, a man wrote on a scroll.

_Dearest Milady A,_

_There was an odd occurrence today in the Fire Nation Court._

_Lady Cornelia, who appeared quite strange (she struck me as being the victim of a fall in a forest, with the requisite leaves and twigs pressed to her form, although I do not believe that to be the case here), burst into the Royal Court, assaulted Royal Guardsmen and began issuing demands._

_The Fire Lord was immediately struck dumb by her presence, and ordered all members of the Court to depart so he could have a private audience with the so-called 'Plant Spirit'._

_Events are proceeding as you have stated._

_Fire Lord Zuko is losing control._

_Hoping this information warms you in your present confines,_

_Your servile minion._

Then the man rolled the scroll up, tied it with a ribbon, and exited his abode.

He walked past the Palace, approached a member of the Fire Nation military, and said "Get this to Princess Azula." He then handed over the scroll along with a bag of gold coins.

000000000000026

At the end of the day, Zuko retired to his personal quarters in the Palace.

Oddly enough, Mai was not there to greet him.

Then Zuko remembered Mai said she was traveling out of town to visit family today.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" the Fire Lord imperiously snapped.

"It's about Lady Cornelia, sire."

Zuko recognized the voice. It was a member of the Royal Guard assigned to watch over the earth elemental.

"What?? What's wrong??!" a worried Zuko barked.

"I'm not saying anything's wrong, your Lordship." the guard meekly said, in a weak attempt to check the Fire Lord's wrath. "We did everything you asked! We took Lady Cornelia to the Royal Gardens, but..."

"Yes? But what?!?" Zuko demanded to know more.

"Perhaps you should see for yourself, sire." the guard said, through the door.

Throwing a robe on over his bed clothes, Zuko hurriedly dashed downstairs.

Entering the Royal Gardens, he saw a very strange sight: Life-size figures, made of vine and branch and leaf, growing over the Eternal Fire Lord statue which was under repair.

Approaching closer to the green creations, Zuko recognized who the figures were.

The Guardian, Will. Aang the Avatar. And others, who he took to be the accompanying members of their respective groups. There was the water bender who hung with the Avatar - whatsername, that other water bender who was with Cornelia (and whom Zuko despised!), one he pegged as the fifth member of the Guardians, plus a few he had no idea who they were.

Although one did stand out.

The Water Tribesman who perished in the invasion, prominently displayed at the apex of the human landscape.

Apparently, Cornelia had been very busy 'gardening'.

He glanced around, looking for her, but failed to spot the Earth girl.

"Guard!" Fire Lord Zuko irritatingly spat. "Where is she??!"

"Over...Over there, sire." the trembling guard pointed at the mass of greenery in the center of the garden.

Greenery that wasn't there before!

And in the middle of the shoots and vines and flowers and buds and twigs and leaves and dirt and sod was...

...Cornelia!

"What the??" Zuko stared at the weird sight for a second, then immediately began hacking through the overgrown vegetation. "How long has she been like this?!" he grilled the guards.

"Ever, ah, ever since we came to get her at sundown, sire." a guard replied. "We couldn't rouse her! We didn't know what to do!"

Evidently, the guards had been discussing who would tell the Fire Lord the bad news for the past few hours since sundown, Zuko noted. Which meant they would need new instructions in loyalty and duty to the new Fire Nation, preferably while being stretched on the rack! But that would have to wait til later.

"Cornelia?" Zuko tenderly asked when he was finally able to fight his way past the small jungle around her. The leader of the Fire Nation tried to move her, but the Earth girl's arms and legs were attached in some way to the ground. "Are you okay?" the concerned teen ruler inquired.

He received no response. In the pale torchlight Zuko, son of Ursa, noticed the green, plantlike hue of her skin.

_If she's a plant, _he reasoned, _perhaps she'll react to plant things?_

Zuko knew plants needed sunlight, but it was nighttime.

Also, plants required water. But none was at hand.

_What else? _Zuko racked his brain.

And then, he recalled the other thing plants thrived upon.

Which also happened to be a fire bender's greatest asset.

Breath!

Zuko exhaled on the growing girl.

But there was no reaction from Cornelia to the infusion of carbon dioxide.

At first.

Then, she stirred!

Cornelia's chlorophyll-tinged emerald eyelids fluttered, and opened.

Even more importantly, her limbs released their hold on the soil!

"Z, Zuko?" Cornelia uttered.

"Yes. It's me." Zuko managed a rare smile not born of sinister plots or crushing an enemy. "Why don't we get you to your room?"

He lifted the Earth Guardian into his arms and carried her bodily up the stairs, judging her plant stem-like legs too thin and weak to support her weight.

Performing this simple act of kindness, Zuko experienced a joy he hadn't known in years!

Then Cornelia said something quite innocent and supportive, but which ultimately had the opposite effect.

"Zuko?" she asked.

Zuko was pleased to be able to carry on a conversation with the blonde from beyond, and replied "Yes, Cornelia? What is it?"

"Thank you." she flatly stated.

"You're welcome." Zuko grinned. He felt really good about himself right then. "But it's no problem. Really." The young Fire Lord crossed the threshold of Cornelia's private room and set the plantlike girl in her night berth.

"Thank you for the forest." Cornelia added.

"Say what now?" Zuko was puzzled.

"They stopped cutting down the forest. Thank you for that." she clarified.

"Huh?" Zuko took a moment to recall what she was talking about as he gingerly tucked the girl from another world into bed. "Oh. That. Hey, my pleasure."

"Taranee doesn't think you're a good person." Cornelia commented. "But I know you are."

"Th, thank you, Cornelia." Zuko stuttered in reply. "I..."

He was going to wish the young Guardian a good night, and add a light peck on her forehead, but her remark gave him pause.

Then Cornelia's eyes closed, and all was quiet.

Except Zuko's conscience.

No swordpoint through the heart, or blast of scarring fire, could have hurt him more than those few words.

000000000000027

Mai was late getting back to the Palace.

Her 'family' had delayed her, and the things said between them had upset Mai something fierce.

She exited the mongoose dragon-drawn carriage and was about to enter the Royal Palace when she noticed something odd.

Zuko was leaving the tower where that Earth girl was kept.

Late at night!

But what would he be doing there, except...

_Oh no. Everything she said was true! _Mai pouted.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Why are you telling me these things?

- Zuko, "Bitter Work"  
It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale.

- Iroh, "Bitter Work"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

000000000000028

Lately the nobles had grumbled about Shen Ming, a _commoner_, deciding their cases.

(Which wasn't exactly true. Though Shen's family weren't born noble, they were noble by marriage).

So Zuko sat in on the day's proceedings, to lend an air of authority to his friend and chief aide's actions.

The Fire Lord had been in a foul mood all day.

He had tossed and turned all night, and when he awoke he discovered Mai still hadn't returned from her family trip. Plus, breakfast was cold, the launderers had missed a spot on his royal robes, the fire ale was flat and tasteless, there was a draft in the throne room, and, and…

…And the nobles' petty bickering wasn't helping matters!

Take the present case, for example.

Many unmarried soldiers had died in the war, leaving no heirs. Consequently, the soldiers' aged families had no one to support them.

Enter Colonel Nawoo and the Duchess Dowager, two nobles with a well-deserved reputation for crushing the hopes and dreams of any and all in their way as they climbed the ladder of the nobility.

Each claimed ownership of land the fallen warriors had possessed. Col. Nawoo insisted the honorable fighting men who served under him had promised the military man their hardscrabble plots of snagglegrass paddy land, and produced scroll 'proof' that was immediately denounced by the Duchess as forgeries, because she argued the land was hers under long-standing agreements with the families that, if an heir was unable to take possession of the land, it would revert to her.

Both claims were, truthfully, rather specious. The nobility had an ancient tradition of screwing over the common people, who had little recourse under the rule of previous Fire Lords.

If it was up to Zuko's tender mercies, he would have the both of them tossed out on their respective asses!

But Shen, ever the diplomat, was trying to work out a lease arrangement between all the parties so the nobles would be placated and the peoples' land would be protected. Both the elderly families and the nobles would benefit from a third party hired to work the land, the quick-thinking Chief of Staff argued.

Though the nobles balked, Zuko could tell Shen was making inroads, and would probably convince them to go along with his innovative plan. Shen acquitted himself rather honorably in his tasks, the young Fire Lord noted. Actually, his Chief of Staff probably did a better job than he himself could have, Zuko had to admit. However, the venal nature of the contentious disputes wore on the Fire Lord's patience! It had been a long day.

At least it was almost over.

Or was it?

"What's this?" Zuko sternly inquired, upon spotting a familiar-looking scroll sticking out of Shen's robes.

"I was waiting till you were in a better mood, your majesty." the loyal aide replied. "It's a letter from…you know who." he added, handing the hated, imprisoned sibling's correspondence to the Fire Lord.

"Let's see what Azula wants this time! The whole Royal Navy, perhaps?" Zuko sarcastically quipped.

Zuko frowned.

His sister tried his soul.

She would send missive after missive, peppered with snide asides and putdowns, requesting, no, _demanding _her freedom and the return of her title and property,

And no matter how hard Zuko tried to dissuade her, she wouldn't stop!

But it was a changed Azula who penned the present note.

Zuko read the deposed Princess' letter silently to himself.

_Dear Zu Zu,_

_I know you hate that name, but that is how I've known you for such a long time. No offense is intended, and I hope none is taken._

_Please excuse the handwriting. I'm unable at present to write, so I'm dictating this to a prison guard, who has graciously agreed to pen this note and ensure its delivery to you in exchange for certain...considerations._

_I know I haven't been the best sister._

_No. Strike that. I've been horrible!_

_I would say I'm sorry, but those words could never make up for the way I treated you._

_The reason I'm writing you is not to ask for anything._

_I did wrong, shameful acts, and deserve to be punished._

_But when I'm released, I would hope, PRAY, that we can be a family again. _

_Like mother said, 'there's nothing more important than family'. _

_I know how this sounds._

_After our life together, you would be perfectly within your rights to ignore this letter and throw it in the trash, and I wouldn't blame you._

_Maybe it wouldn't work._

_Maybe any attempt at reconciliation and re-forging our family ties is doomed to failure._

_But I'd like to try._

_Your sister,_

_Azula_

After Zuko finished reading the letter, he sat on his throne for the longest time.

He was quiet for so long, Shen began to worry.

Zuko, though, wasn't 'there' in the throne room anymore.

His mind traveled through the past.

_"Zuko, my son, never forget how special you are! You have it within you to do great things!" _his mother told him, years ago.

_"Hey, dad, try and catch me!" _the young Prince shouted at his father, as they ran on the beach at Ember Island. The laughing, playful pair soon joined Ursa, Zuko's mother, who frolicked in the sand with the family's baby, Azula.

Finally, Zuko spoke.

"Shen?" the teen Fire Lord requested the attention of his chief aide, and longtime confidante.

"Yes, Fire Lord Zuko?" Shen Ming cautiously answered.

"Free Azula." a morose Zuko stated. "And give her anything she wants."

"Sire? Come again?" Shen wasn't sure what he just heard. Did Fire Lord Zuko really request the release of his sister from prison? The same sister who had designs on the throne occupied by Zuko, and many allies eager to help her achieve her sinister goals?

"Are you questioning my orders, Shen??!" Zuko raged at his right-hand man.

"What? No! Of course not, sire!" the Chief of Staff quickly back-pedaled.

Realizing how crazy he appeared to the members of the Royal Court, Zuko took his assistant aside and calmly explained himself in private. "Azula's learned her lesson. But even if she hasn't, she's in no position to hurt me anymore." he said, grinning, as he recalled how he used Taranee, the Guardian of Fire, to take Azula's fire bending abilities away from her. Then the young Fire Lord leaned in closer. "Besides, Shen, and keep this to yourself because I haven't told her yet, but I plan to ask Mai to marry me after the current unpleasantness is taken care of. And I can't very well have the groom's sister and the number one bridesmaid in prison, now can I?"

"Oh, no, your majesty! That wouldn't be right!" Shen replied. "And congratulations, Zuko! Plus, politically, a new Queen will be very well-received by the people!"

"Not a word, Shen!" Zuko demanded. Then he returned his attention to the Royal Court. The attending nobles were still baffled by his action regarding Azula. Thinking quickly, the scheming Fire Lord had an idea on how he could prove he was in control and bring them over to his side.

Zuko eyed the two quarrelsome nobles and asked "Your argument is about land, is that it?"

"Yes, sire." both obediently replied.

"Okay, then." Zuko stated, producing two blank scrolls and a quill pen. He wrote on each scroll, and applied his royal seal. "No one's using those islands in the North Sea, south of the Western Air Temple. I know, because I've been there. Why don't you..." he said, handing one scroll to Col. Nawoo, "and you" he gave the other scroll to the Duchess "take them?"

"Why, thank you, sire!" the Colonel beamed.

"You're very gracious, your majesty!" the Duchess Dowager bowed.

"So, we're done here, I take it?" Zuko calmly asked.

"But, sire, what of our original problem?" the Colonel inquired.

"We are done here, aren't we?" the Fire Lord repeated, a big smile on his face.

Which chilled the Duchess' cold heart even more.

"Yes, your Lordship!" she said, bowing again.

Then she turned to the Colonel and whispered "Let's get out of here, fool, before he changes his mind and destroys us!"

"Good!" Zuko waved at the departing, and nervous, Colonel and Duchess.

And so it went.

Zuko re-visited all of the more difficult disputes one by one and resolved each of them by literally giving away 'the store' - the Fire Lord's vast, personal treasure of gold, jewelry and lands.

Finally, the long day was over, and an exhausted Zuko retired to the royal bed chamber.

000000000000029

Taranee flew around the Fire Nation, looking for trouble.

But only found members of the populace happy to see the 'Fire Angel'. They waved to her.

She ignored them.

Given the mood the fiery Guardian was in, it wasn't a good idea for her to be around the decent denizens of the Fire Lands.

So Taranee stopped at a bar in the smoky industrial heartland, which was also near the site of the infamous prison, the Boiling Rock.

It was the type of place frequented by Combustion Man (back when he could combust things, that is) and, coincidentally, where Zuko's troops found the 'most dangerous fire bender alive' passed out in a pool of fire grog.

According to the reports filed by police, no bigger den of scum and villainy existed in the entire country! If Taranee was in a joking way, she'd say Hay Lin would appreciate the 'Star Wars' like quote.

But Tara wasn't in a good mood.

And she hoped this thieves' bar would suit her purposes rather well.

Taranee landed, walked in the saloon, and looked around.

It was what she expected.

The place was like a biker bar back home (only, without any motorcycles, obviously).

The roughest of the rough, the vicious slime of the Fire Nation, eyed her warily.

They knew who she was. And what she could do. Many of those present were put in prison, or had relatives locked away, by Fire Lord Zuko.

Some even had their fire bending personally taken away by the otherworldly Guardian of Fire.

Taranee walked briskly to the bar and ordered...a flaming cinnamon cider.

"Sorry, girlie!" the bartender laughed. "You'll have to go to the market for kiddie drinks!"

The drunken crowd derisively roared at the young dreadlocked Guardian.

"Flaming...Cinnamon..Cider." Taranee demanded, her angry eyes shooting spits of flames around her eyeglasses that landed on the bar and set it ablaze!

Which was hardly unusual for a bar, especially one in the Fire Nation!

But then Tara snapped her fingers, and the flames on the bar gathered into the form of a person, a fiery 'woman' who offered a light to the woozy, bloodshot-eyed drunk seated next to it.

The Guardian of Fire's amazing, effortless control over that element shut the crowd up pretty quick!

After the smoking drunk accepted the light, the 'fire lady' turned to the bartender and offered him a 'light' of fire.

"Okay! Okay!" the frantic barman begged for mercy. "Liwei, run to the market and get some flaming cinnamon cider!" he yelled to his barback (assistant). "Now!!" he barked.

Satisfied (for the moment), Taranee snapped her finger again and the flame creature dissipated.

Exit: One fiery harpy.

Enter: Another (formerly fiery) harpy.

"Well, well, look who's here. The 'Fire Angel'." a familiar voice sneered. "What's the matter? Get tired of heaven?"

Taranee turned to confront the speaker.

It was who she thought it was. No one else could use so few words to crush a person's spirit!

"Azula." Taranee scornfully said. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on your hands and knees acting as a buttbench for some huge woman with tattoos and a nose ring in the prison commissary, desperately trying to support her fat ass so you wouldn't suffer another beating?"

"Ooh! The outworlder has bite! Are you _sure_ you're not Fire Nation??" said the approving Azula, smirk in full gear.

"Answer the question!" Taranee ordered. "Why are you free?!?"

"Oh, that? I have my freedom because my brother loves me!" Azula crowed.

"Like I'd buy that!" the Guardian of Fire scoffed. "Who'd you pay off?"

"But it's true!" Azula cooed, hands clasped in faux joy. "Zu Zu does love me!"

Then she turned to the fiery Guardian and added "He's losing it, you know."

"Come again?" Taranee wanted to hear more.

"I may not know what you and your friends did to Zuko." the deposed Princess replied, deftly placing all the blame for the current situation on the Guardians of Candracar. "But I know him. Dum Dum doesn't know what he's doing. Never has. He's always been mixed up. And you don't want to be there when he finally goes over the edge!"

"Wow. You're _so_ scary!" Taranee mocked Azula's tough girl act. "Azula, you may be able to play your brother, but don't EVEN try that crap on me!"

The nervous, trembling bartender handed the flaming kiddie drink to Taranee, who swallowed it all in one gulp, then wiped her mouth. (But at least she didn't belch fire and smoke. Well, not much, anyway).

"You don't know Zuko as well as you think you do!" Taranee challenged the former royal. "He's actually trying to improve this country! I'm making sure of that!!" Tara thumped the empty glass on the bar, impatiently ordering another shot. "Unlike what you and your ilk would do!"

"You really think what you've done to us is an 'improvement'?" Azula sounded bitter. And she had every reason to be. "You've messed with the natural order of things, outworlder! I myself...and many of those here..." Azula motioned to the hoodlums gathered behind her "..._earned_ the right to fire bend! A right you had no business stealing, **firewitch**!!"

"You're criminals, who threatened the safety of the people! That gives me every right..." Taranee stopped. The crowd behind Azula was getting ugly. The Fire Guardian put her drink down, balled her flaming fists, and dared "You want a piece of me? Good! Let's go!!"

The crowd was eager to comply.

But Azula turned to them, and held her hand up.

"No. There'll be a time and place for that. But not now." Azula commanded her dastardly legions.

It was in that moment that Taranee noticed Azula moved with a limp.

No. Not just a limp.

Tara looked closer.

Azula wore a prosthetic wooden left leg! A rather cheap, poorly made one, at that. _What happened to her in prison? _Taranee wondered.

"The fact is, Guardian, we're going to need each other when Zuko messes up and causes everything to go south, as he surely will." said the former Princess, who still spoke with an air of imperial authority.

"And why would you be so sure about that, Azula??" Taranee speculated. "Unless…You're working some plot against him right now?!" she accused the Fire Lord's sister.

"The fact I'm free is proof my brother is coming unhinged. It won't be too much longer before even you pay the price of his folly!" Azula said prophetically. "Heh. Unless you already have." she added, with a devilish grin.

Taranee thought of Cornelia, now the so-called, non-communicative 'Plant Spirit', and madly answered Azula's cruel words with threats of violence. "You have no idea what I've been through! Don't test me, Azula!!"

"You know I'm right." Azula calmly responded. "But if you don't believe me, ask Zu Zu's dear, sweet, Uncle Iroh. Oh. Wait. No one's seen him in months. Oh well." she cackled.

Tara had enough of the devious ex-royal, so she walked out of the bar and flew away.

But not before leaving a parting shot.

"If I were you, Azula, I'd think twice about what I was doing. Look what it's already cost you!" Taranee warned/taunted the Princess with the artificial leg.

"Oh, I have. Believe me." Azula smiled wickedly, then dragged her gimpy left leg behind her to a corner booth of the bar, where she happily feasted on a meal of roast duck.

000000000000030

After his charity spending spree, Zuko felt much more at ease. As he lay his head on his pillow, he thought his heart unburdened enough to ensure several peaceful hours of uninterrupted sleep.

But the young Fire Lord didn't have a good nights' rest.

Not by any means.

_Never forget who you are, Prince Zuko._

It was his mother, Ursa.

Then she was gone.

Replaced by an image of that bald-headed fool, the Avatar.

Laughing at him!

_Ha ha ha ha ha!_

000000000000031

"Katara! Good news!!"

The boy Avatar ran to the South Pole Water tribe teen, wearing a smile so wide it threatened to break the contours of his face.

"Did those Avatar State exercises we discussed help you?" Katara inquired.

"What? No! Forget that!" Aang dismissed the Guru's teachings. "I have something even better! Avatar Roku is visiting me in my dreams! He's teaching me fire bending!!"

The excitable young Avatar then confidently demonstrated to Katara the new move the former Avatar taught him - the fire bird!

"Wow!" an impressed Katara remarked, as Aang bent flames in the form of a bird which then took flight. "That's great, Aang!"

"It's even better than that, Katara!" Aang bragged. "It's the answer to mastering the Avatar State! Once I learn fire bending and master all four elements, the Avatar State will be a breeze, and defeating Zuko will be easy!"

"Oh, Aang!" the Water Tribe girl hugged her friend. "I'm so happy for you!!"

"What's going on?" a voice said, interrupting the embrace of the two master benders.

"Toph!!" the girl's companion interjected.

It was two of the members of Aang's little group, Toph and Irma.

"What??" Toph blurted. The blind girl didn't understand she was intruding on a blossoming relationship.

"Never mind!" Irma sighed. Aang and Katara had already ended their hug, and Aang began his spiel.

"I've got great news, guys!" Aang cheerily announced. "I'm learning fire bending, and after I do that, the Avatar State will be a snap!"

"Woo hoo!" Irma yipped. "High-five me, Aang!" she added, thrusting her hand in the air.

But the Air Nomad didn't know what that meant. (Or maybe he just didn't care! Ha! A joke. You know, 'put your hand in the air like you really do care'? What? It's not that funny?? Hmphh! Anyway, Aang really was baffled by Irma's action).

So the Water Guardian embarrassedly removed her stranded hand from above her head.

"Uh, yeah." Irma recovered, her hand at her side. "Anyway, that's excellent, Aang! You know, things are going so well, we should have a party!"

Irma was referring to the fact that Caleb was whipping the warriors into shape, Hay Lin was doing better than ever with her own special brand of 'air bending' (thanks to Aang's mentoring), Irma was even learning some new tricks (but she didn't want to go into detail), Toph had regained her confidence and was earth bending all manner of rock, soil and metal easily, displaying heightened levels of power and control not seen before (although 'sand bending' was still a sore spot with her), plus Katara's diplomacy had succeeded in getting the support of the Earth King and his generals for a massive invasion by the Earth Army and Navy to unseat the Fire Lord!

All in all, the situation had never been better!

_'Cause it's nine in the afternoon_

_And your eyes are the size of the moon_

_You could 'cause you can so you do_

_We're feeling so good_

_Just the way that we do_

_When it's nine in the afternoon_

000000000000032

Mai and Zuko stood in front of their portrait hanging in the hall of the Palace of the Fire Lord. The tapestry had taken craftsmen several weeks to create, and Zuko wanted to see is his lover was as enamored of it as he was.

"So?" Zuko asked her, a teasing grin on his face. "How do you like it?"

"At least they got our eyes right." Mai glumly replied.

"Mai?" a concerned Zuko inquired. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. Of course not. You're the Fire Lord. We'll crush all our enemies. And live happily ever after." Mai flatly stated. "What could be wrong?"

"Sire?" a guard interrupted the pair. "The Hightower requests your assistance."

"What? Oh. Okay." Zuko replied. Then he faced his love and told her "I'm sorry, Mai. Something's come up I have to take care of. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Sure. No problem." the droll Mai responded, ignoring Zuko's goodbye peck on the cheek.

As Zuko hurried off, Mai thought _The Tower? Where he keeps __her__??_

Unknown to Mai, however, the tower in question had nothing to do with the Earth Guardian. It was the one situated on the mountaintop, where Zuko had his laborers construct...a special structure.

000000000000033

It all weighed on Taranee's mind as she zoomed through the red, sunset sky that was common in the Fire Nation in September.

Her friends' well-being.

Zuko's machinations.

Azula's plotting.

And the end of the world!

There had to be a way to solve all these problems.

There had to!

And the more Tara thought about it, the more she realized Azula was on the money.

The Fire Guardian reasoned only those who knew Zuko best, his family, could possibly help her understand the young Fire Lord's plans, and what role he would play in the world's doom.

However, Zuko's father, Ozai, and sister, Azula, would never deign to help her out of the goodness of their black hearts. Each would surely demand a favor from the combustible Guardian, and Taranee was finished making deals with devils!

Of the rest of Zuko's family, his mother Ursa had been gone for years, but Iroh was rumored to still be alive, living out his retirement in seclusion.

At least, according to the talk bandied about the Royal Court.

Taranee figured Iroh was the key to understanding and _stopping_ Zuko.

By all accounts, Uncle Iroh was much beloved by his nephew. When Zuko's mother vanished, and his father abandoned him following their Agni Kai, Iroh tended to the young Prince, and they traveled together for years. Each had temporarily gone their own way at the time Zuko acquired the Heart. It was quite possible, what with the reputation for wisdom the old general had, Zuko would never have gotten the Heart if his Uncle had been with him.

But there was no point in dwelling on that ugly twist of fate!

The question uppermost on Taranee's mind was: Where was Iroh now?

While in disguise, she had quietly passed word, and quite a few gold coins, around Capital City that she was seeking the retired general.

Her efforts had finally paid off.

Someone, in the middle of a _crowd_, no less, handed her a tile from a Pai Sho game with a short note scrawled on it.

It read: _The Fire Fountain._

_Sunset._

After pocketing the tile, Tara looked around to see who had given it to her, but it was hopeless. The crowd was too thick!

She only had one recourse. To show up at the appointed time and place and pray she wasn't walking into a trap!

At sunset, Taranee landed behind a nearby warehouse and, with robes concealing her identity, carefully made her way to the Fire Fountain in the middle of the Central Plaza.

It was an open area, and thus not the likely site of an ambush.

She hoped!

"Hello, traveler."

The voice came from behind her!

Wheeling quickly, Taranee readied herself for battle! "Who's there?" she demanded, her confidence only slightly undermined by the barely audible crack in her voice.

"Calm yourself, traveler. I do not wish to fight."

The one speaking those words doffed his hood, revealing an older man with a well-groomed beard and moustache, and eyes that looked as if they could penetrate one's soul.

"I wish the same as you. To find Brother Iroh." the man said.

"Haven't you heard? Iroh's retired!" Taranee yelped in response.

"You do not believe that." the man calmly stated. "Or else you would not be here. And one does not 'retire' from being who they are."

"What's your interest in Iroh?" Taranee pointedly asked.

"He is a valued member of our organization, of which I can say no more." the man replied. "And you? Why do you wish to find him?"

"To...reunite him with family." Taranee answered, although she was baffled as to why she would tell this stranger anything!

"Ah. Of course. Fire Lord Zuko. He is sorely in need of guidance, isn't he?" the man quickly surmised the girl's mission.

Irritated by the man's tone, Taranee spat "Enough speculation! Do you have any idea where he is??"

"This I do not not know." the cloaked Fire National answered.

"So what I am I supposed to do?? Search the whole country?!" a ticked off Taranee shot back.

"Hmmm." the raven-haired man sized her up. "I suspect the answers you seek lie much closer to home. Do not constantly look outside yourself for succor, traveler."

"What does that mean?!?" Taranee was exasperated! This dude was even more cryptic than Wan Shi Tong! "And why do you call me 'traveler'? Is that zen mumbo jumbo an attempt at appearing all-wise?" she sarcastically added.

"Have you not traveled a long way?" he blithely asked. "But I see I have taken up enough of your time. Farewell." The man turned and walked away.

"How...How do you know that?" Taranee was mystified. Could this guy know about the Guardians of Candracar??? "Wait!" she called after the hooded man.

But it was too late.

He was gone.

000000000000034

Zuko returned from his secretive labors at a late hour and found Mai was already asleep.

Climbing into bed beside her, the weary Fire Lord soon joined the noble lady in slumber.

A dream came to him.

He was the Avatar.

No. More than that.

He was the Lord of All, with vast legions at his disposal!

The jewel glowed in his hand.

He could do anything!!

He...

...Then the otherworldy bauble was gone!

Zuko lost the power!

His great armies disappeared!

He...

...Woke up!

"Unh. Wha?" Zuko opened his eyes.

To find Mai had the Heart of Candracar!

"Mai??? What are you doing?!!" Zuko yelled, reaching for the Heart. "Give me that!"

"No!!" Mai shrieked, avoiding Zuko's grabby paw. "This thing is evil!!"

"I said..." Zuko seized the gothlike girl, then forcefully yanked the Heart from her grasp! "...Give me that!!"

The retrieval was so violent, Mai was pushed into the wall!

"What's the matter with you??" Zuko chastised Mai as he placed the reclaimed Heart of Candracar around his neck. "Did Azula put you up to this??"

"Zuko, I only did this so we could stay together!" Mai bawled, rare tears dripping from the usually emotionless girl's eyes. "That Heart thing is changing you!"

"Get out!" Zuko ordered.

"But, Zuko, I love you..." Mai cried, desperate to explain her actions.

Using words Zuko had rarely heard.

But he would have none of it!

"**Get out!!**" Zuko screamed. "**Now!!!**"

He followed that dire command with a blast of electrified fire from the Heart that barely missed Mai's head!

She ran, sobbing, from their room.

Attracted by the commotion, Chief of Staff Shen Ming and a phalanx of guards investigated. Mai ran past them, but they didn't stop her. Shen continued to Zuko's quarters.

"What's going on, Lord Zuko?" Shen asked.

"What's going on?? Mai is a traitor, that's what's going on!!" Zuko spat the distasteful words.

"What??" Shen recoiled in disbelief. "But Mai loves you! She wouldn't betray you!"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Zuko countered.

"No, Zuko! Of course not! But think about what..." Shen started to argue.

"I'm surrounded by traitors!" Zuko angrily produced a letter. "This was intercepted by my agents! A letter to Azula! And it's signed 'Your servile minion'! 'S M', Shen! Your initials!!"

The Fire Lord grabbed Shen Ming's collar with one hand and bent hellfire with his other hand. "Are you a traitor, too, Shen?!?" Zuko accused, threatening dire bodily harm if he didn't receive a satisfactory answer.

The Chief of Staff, Zuko's oldest and dearest friend, looked Zuko in the eye but found only black hatred in those once-golden orbs!

However, the frightened aide managed to squeak out "Z, Zuko? What are you doing?? I'm your friend! Please. I'm only loyal to you! I don't know anything about a letter! I swear!! By all the Spirits!"

Zuko continued giving Shen the death stare, and the young administrator feared he'd get scars on his face to match the ones on his arms.

Or worse!

But the Fire Lord eased up on his grip and released his right hand man.

"Not a good choice of oath, Shen." Zuko darkly commented.

Which puzzled the young man, an engineer by training but governmental executive by circumstance. "Zuko, what?"

"Never mind." Zuko averted his eyes from his longtime friend. His anger left him, to be replaced by a different emotion. "I'm sorry, Shen."

"Zuko...If there's anything you want to talk about..." Shen helpfully offered.

"No. Just...go." Zuko requested. The rage had passed, but not the unease, the wariness in Zuko's soul. He wanted to explain himself, to confide in his oldest friend, to tell him all of the thoughts and feelings that were warring in his heart. But he couldn't.

Not anymore.

"Come on, men." the Chief of Staff said to the guards. "The Fire Lord has a lot on his mind, what with the Earth Kingdom bent on invading us at any moment!"

Zuko took a walk around the Palace to clear his head. He wouldn't be getting any rest this night.

The guards gave him a wide berth. The better (for them) to live another day.

At one point in his wanderings, Zuko looked up.

And saw the portrait of him and Mai.

Momentarily enraged, the heart-savaged young man tore the tapestry off the wall!

000000000000035

After being away for two weeks, Taranee unceremoniously walked into Zuko's throne room.

"I'm back. What do you want?" she brusquely asked.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" the Fire Lord grinned in amusement. "No 'How are you?' or 'I had a good vacation.' or 'What have you done to Cornelia this time'?" Zuko laughed at his own mean joke.

"For your information, I already checked on Cornelia. She's fine. Again, what do you want?!!" Taranee irritatingly snapped.

Tara couldn't very well tell the Fire Lord what she was really doing during those two weeks away - trying to find some way to stop him - mostly because she failed. So she got straight to the point, to eliminate the last of her unpleasant service to the teen ruler of the Fire Nation.

"Direct. I always liked that about you." Zuko complimented her, then got down to the difficult business at hand.

"The Earth Kingdom is planning to invade us very soon, so I need you to create a thick cloud cover over the entire Fire Nation." Fire Lord Zuko stated.

Noting the look of puzzlement on Taranee's ebony features, Zuko explained his plan. "I've sent the bulk of our ground forces to the Colonies to defend them. Which means I have to stop the Earth Kingdom invasion fleet on the open water before they reach our shores. The problem is that their Earth Navy is almost as formidable as our own. Our airships can render critical assistance to our warships and be the key to our victory, but not if the enemy can see them and blow them out of the sky! That's where the cloud cover comes in."

"I see." Taranee noted the logic of the plan. But she also thought _And it'll give Aang and the rest riding on Appa the cover they need to reach the Fire Nation!_

Zuko continued with his war goals. "If all goes well, the invaders will never set foot on our soil, sparing the citizens of the Fire Nation ugly house-to-house fighting and occupation!"

"Sounds good, Zuko, but..." Taranee realized something odd about Zuko's plan. _But fire benders get their power from the sun! If that's blocked...The fool has written the prescription for his own defeat! _ Taranee, of course, didn't say this aloud.

"But what, Guardian?" the Fire Lord curiously inquired.

"But...how do you expect me to do this deed, o Fire Lord?" Taranee politely asked.

_I know what she's thinking! _Zuko thought to himself. _She thinks I'm crazy!_

_Azula was right! He has gone off the deep end! _Taranee's mind speculated on the state of Zuko's sanity. _But I can use this to end the madness for good!_

"You're the smart one, correct?" Zuko mocked the Guardian's brainy rep. "You'll figure something out!"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations will help you become whole.  
- Iroh, "Bitter Work"

All this four elements talk is sounding like Avatar stuff.  
- Zuko, "Bitter Work"  
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

000000000000036

The Fire Lord sat, all alone, in his private room, which was in a building adjacent to the Palace, and recalled the past.

After the young Prince had lost the Agni Kai against his father, he was banished. To restore his honor, Zuko embarked on a mission to find the long lost Avatar.

He began his search for the vanished multi-bender at the ruins of the Western Air Temple, which was the closest site of the extinct Air Nomads to the Fire Nation.

But Zuko was not alone then.

The disgraced son of Ozai was accompanied by his beloved Uncle Iroh.

"I know it is my destiny to find the Avatar." a tired, but determined, Prince Zuko said back then.

To which a smiling Iroh replied "Destiny is a funny thing...If you keep an open mind and an open heart, I promise you will find your own destiny someday. "

Fire Lord Zuko thought about it. He had heard that word, 'destiny', bandied about quite a bit over the course of his young life.

And he remembered something else he witnessed.

_Flashback_

_"You are not the first mortal to travel to the Spirit World, o Prince." said the ancient face-stealing being known as Koh, while wearing the visage that possessed the widest grin._

_"What's that supposed to mean?!? an exasperated Zuko declared._

_"Once, years ago, a man grieving for his lost son journeyed here. But he did not find the soul of the one he sought." Koh continued. "Instead, he found his own destiny."_

_An image of the astral traveler formed on the wall._

_And Zuko was shocked to discover he knew who it was!_

_"But that's...Uncle Iroh??" the teen Prince blurted._

_And Iroh wasn't alone. He was surrounded by numerous denizens of the Spirit realm who had valuable insight to share with the son of Azulon._

_"It is not yet time for you to join your progeny." Hei Bai, the spokesman for the assembled Spirits, told the wise old General. "You are required to train the next Avatar." _

_"What? The __next__...?? But why me, celestial ones?" a puzzled Iroh replied._

_"Because you already know him. And he will need your help, as many will block his path." the ancient Spirit, old when the world was still young, spoke with the voice of other worldly authority. "It is Prince Zuko."_

_End Flashback_

"And you knew! YOU KNEW MY DESTINY ALL ALONG!!!"

The betrayed Zuko raged at the memory, at everything all around him!

In a blind fury, Zuko tore at the snagglegrass paper decorating the walls!

He threw the furniture around (chairs, table, even the bed!), breaking them!

He sent fireblast after fireblast at what was left of his room, trashing it!

The Royal Guards stationed outside the Fire Lord's domicile trembled in fear of his wrath.

000000000000037

Zuko was in a horrible mood, the worst Shen had ever seen, and wasn't getting any better, so the frazzled Chief of Staff quickly handed his Lord the letter from Azula, then ducked.

Zuko read the note and, to Shen's great surprise, the Fire Lord sounded remarkably emotionless in his response.

"Azula will get everything she deserves." Zuko coldly announced. "Let the word go forth: Azula, and any following her, are to be arrested and everything they have, all of it, seized and burned at the stake."

Zuko then lit a flame with his finger and incinerated the letter.

"But, Sire..." an unsure Shen Ming anxiously inquired. He didn't want to arouse the barely concealed anger of his lord, but Shen felt compelled, as Zuko's friend, to steer him on the proper path. "Are you certain you wish to do this? She is your sister, after all!"

"I don't have a sister anymore!" Zuko screamed. "She's a traitor!! Burn it! Burn it all!!!"

000000000000038

Taranee considered her nigh-impossible final task for the Fire Lord.

Create an impenetrable cloud cover over the whole Fire Nation!

She quickly ran through her options.

Use the Nation's many factories?

Except those were recently upgraded so they didn't pollute. And it was a terrible idea, anyhow.

Use her own fire-creating might?

But what to use as combustible material? All of the forests that remained in the country? Crazy!

Besides, Tara was unsure if even she possessed the might to perform such a feat!

Which left one final option...

...The Fire Nation itself!

Or, rather, what lay underneath the land.

Taranee had read up on the subject, so she knew the nation of fire was very active geologically, and even had a 'Ring of Fire' around it much like the Pacific Ocean basin back home.

Taranee made her decision.

From the air, she spotted a likely candidate for her plan: A volcanic island, uninhabited since the time of Avatar Roku's passing, when the people moved to the much safer Colonies on the sun-kissed shores of the western Earth Kingdom.

The Guardian of Fire changed course and nosedived into the crater of the volcano, her white-hot flames burning away the protective, growing cone inside.

Down, down, she dove, deeper and deeper, her Candracar-given powers protecting her from the hellish heat and noxious gases, until she drilled through the earth's outer shell and reached...magma!

The resulting massive, pyroclastic explosion of ash, gas, dust and burning embers filled the sky!

Then the Fire Guardian repeated her earth-shattering feat.

Over and over!

And all went well (as well as multiple volcanic eruptions could go, that is), until...

...After blasting her last volcano on the 'Ring of Fire', Taranee noticed activity on the mainland.

A series of explosions of boiled water, the red-hot steam rising thousands of feet into the air!

The seismic disturbances Taranee caused had a ripple effect, and the steam geysers and lava vents in the Fire Lakes Region were affected.

No, more than 'affected'.

They went insane!

Fissures of steam erupted constantly, instead of at regular intervals, scalding anyone caught in it!

Even worse, the lava river, fed by the subterranean chaos, overran its banks, threatening the lives of all vacationing on its usually placid shores!

Flying through the haze of the steam geysers and the ash falling from the volcanoes she set ablaze, Tara saw a family about to be overrun by the raging rapids of lava!

She swooped in and grabbed them, saving them from fiery immolation!

And choking on the ash and dust in the air in the process!

Because, you see, she had to remove her hand from its protective location over her mouth in order to help the good citizens of the Nation.

_But it was worth it. _Taranee thought, as the acidic, hot debris seared her lungs. _The deed is done._

Soon, the earth around the Fire Continent resembled nothing less than open, gaping wounds of fire and smoke.

Smoke that obscured the sun, and consumed its life-giving rays.

Surveying her world-altering handiwork, Taranee Cook had another, darker thought.

_I hope it was worth it._

000000000000039

Not since he had been burned by his own father had Zuko ever felt so low, so down, so depressed. So alone.

Due to recent…events, his royal bed was unavailable. But even if it was every bit as inviting and comfortable as in the past, Zuko's present mood would have rendered it as uninhabitable as his spare room felt.

Though it was late at night, he roamed the empty halls of the Palace, seeking solace in visions of Fire Lords past, and he wondered if any of them ever had to go, quite literally, through hell itself to see justice done and destiny fulfilled.

He paced the stuffy, royal corridor until he came upon the spot where his family's portrait hung.

Except...

...It wasn't there anymore!

Zuko was stunned!!

Until he remembered his own words. _...Everything they have!...Burn it all!!!_

As per the Fire Lord's law, all of the properties of the traitor Azula, _including those featuring the traitor's likeness_, were destroyed!

The searing anger inside of Zuko erupted, a white-hot explosion of energy and bile from two hearts, his own and the jewel of Candracar, that consumed everything in a two-block radius!

The Palace, everything, all of it within the proximity of his wrath (luckily, abandoned at this late hour) burned!

The roof gone, the spot where the young man driven by naked ambition and pride stood was now open to the sky.

Dust and volcanic ash from the Fire Guardian's recently erupted volcanoes drifted into the ruined Palace.

And more besides found their way to the now-exposed floor.

Caught in the conflagration, a partially burned 'Wanted' poster of Aang wafted down, only coming to rest when it landed at Zuko's feet.

000000000000040

All around the Fire Nation, dozens of belching fire mountains spewed vast plumes of pulverized rock and smoke into the atmosphere, literally turning day into night.

On the eve of the Earth Kingdom invasion, the greatest crisis in the history of the Fire Nation, _ever_, the country burned.

All of it.

Everywhere.

But nothing burned hotter than one single, solitary heart.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It is the combination of the four elements in one person that makes the Avatar so powerful. But, it can make _you_ more powerful too.  
- Iroh, "Bitter Work"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

_Next:_

_The Pre-Invasion!_

_With:_

_Aang's horrifying vision of the future!_

_Who are the people the Fire Guardian gave fire bending to? Meet Zuko's Zealots!_

_More Aang/Katara/Hay Lin triangle goodness!_

_The spy revealed!_

_Someone betrays the GAang!_

_Zuko's War Council! (Be warned - It's not what you expect!)_

_And Caleb gives a speech!!_

_Plus:_

_Bladder bending!_

_Yeah, you heard me right! I said __bladder bending__!!_

_And that isn't even the funniest part!_

Notes

Biggest. Chapter. Ever! But I wanted to tell Zuko's story, plus relate what happened to the others after the failure of the eclipse invasion.

The next two chapters have more action, so they won't be as long, but they will be a lot of fun!

This chapter is more like an episode of a TV show (and just as long as one, if not longer!) because it tells a complete story within the larger arc.

Zuko's fire ale is a Fire Nation version of an energy drink, while Wan Shi Tong consumes an unnamed alcoholic beverage that's probably similar to sake.

Taranee left her glasses on the altar in Interlude 16: Romance Ridge of _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar._

Snagglegrass is a crop similar to rice, while muzzlegrub is a grain akin to wheat. They're food staples of the Avatar's world.

In _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar, _Cornelia metamorphosized into the Plant Spirit only after she'd gotten stronger by experiencing adversity, learning about the Spirits (including the previous Plant Spirit), herself, and her varied abilities until she fully accepted her power. She also changed in the presence of a benevolent Spirit, Hei Bai, who watched over the Earth Guardian on her journey to Spirithood and who Cornelia trusted. Plus, her friend Irma accompanied her. Cornelia was also in her untransformed, lower power state, which is easier to control. All of which undoubtedly eased the transition for the earth girl. But Koh introduced Corny (who couldn't control her power against Fire Lord Ozai, and who reveled in her Guardian abilities but didn't understand them during the Day of Black Sun) to the immensity of being the Plant Spirit all at once, at the same time she was suffering over having accidentally caused Sokka's death, and it was too much for her. She was overwhelmed. Her Guardian form didn't help her control her new abilities because that increased the effect of the Plant Spirit powers.

In their camp, Aang has to deal with four moody teenage girls. And he thought bending was hard! Snicker. In some ways, he misses Sokka even more than the others. And if Azula, Mai and Ty Lee are 'Ozai's Angels', does that mean Katara, Toph, Hay Lin and Irma are 'Aang's Angels'?

Hay Lin decked Frost with her 'flying fists' in the episode _F is for Facades_. And it was her feet, not her fists, that knocked down Phobos in _J is for Jewel_.

Hay Lin is getting more play in this storyline, which I like. She's usually forgotten, or put on the sidelines. But the opportunities she presents, as the Air Guardian in a world of only one air bender, is just too good to pass up. She makes an excellent contrast to the lone Air Monk, while also complimenting him, able to do that which he can't. And the triangle stuff is pretty juicy, too!

On Avatarworld, when the non-transformed Guardians tap into elemental bending energy they get more powerful, but they lack control because the nature of their power is undisciplined. Their abilities don't rely on training and practice, being one with nature or accessing their chi. So Hay Lin can manage small things, like an air cannon, without too much difficulty, but if she tries something big, like a tornado, it gets away from her.

The song is the chorus from "Nine in the Afternoon" by Panic At The Disco. At that point, things seem great for Aang and the gang, but very strange, also. Irma hums the song when they have their 'party'.

When I started writing this, it was mainly about Zuko and Cornelia. Then it grew to feature practically _everybody_ (every major character, that is), giving all at least one important scene. There's really only one character excludedfrom this treatment, and that's because he can't talk.

Fans of Mai may be disappointed to find that she's merely 'Zuko's girlfriend' in this tale. I tried to give her and Ty Lee more to do, but I had to stay true to the characters and fulfill the requirements of the story.

The hooded man Taranee ran into was Swordmaster Piandao from "Sokka's Master"_, _who is a member of the super-secret organization The Order of the White Lotus, as is Iroh.

Lava destroyed the Fire Lakes resort, which is why Azula, Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee vacation on Ember Island in Season Three. (They had homes in more than one place, just as rich people and VIPs today have the summer home in the Hamptons, the winter chalet in Aspen, etc.)

Iroh told Zuko his destiny (via flashback) in Episode 3-12, The Western Air Temple.

Ten years ago the Fire Sages told Ozai that Zuko could be the Avatar. They describe how he picked out the wood burnings of previous Avatars (just as Aang selected the toys of earlier Avatars). The Sages theorize that the air bending Avatar was killed when the Air Nomads were destroyed, the next in line (the water bender Avatar) was lost when the North Pole Water Tribe was attacked 85 years ago, and the earth bending Avatar died of old age behind the walls of Ba Sing Se seven years before. They don't know how wrong they are about the air bender Avatar (Aang) and the other supposed 'Avatars', but their theory sounds highly plausible to them. Also, they know of Zuko's ancestors, so they feel he has a special bond to Avatarhood. But any mention of Zuko's great-grandfather, Avatar Roku, enrages Ozai, who hates the previous Fire Nation Avatar for opposing Sozin, his grandfather.

Zuko knows the truth about Aang, so why does he buy Koh's contention that he, Zuko, is the next Avatar? (Besides the conversation Iroh had with the Spirits?) What else did Koh tell Zuko? That will be revealed later.

Koh is manipulating Zuko into believing he can be the next Avatar, even though that's impossible! But why? What could the dark Spirit hope to gain from these machinations?

To achieve his goals, Zuko sacrificed his family, which is why he wishes to start a new family with Mai. Zuko's broken family relationships are symbolized by Azula and the yaksheep ownership dispute. At first Zuko rejects his family (and his past), and tries to resolve the yaksheep dispute by neatly slicing it in half. But families (and arguments) are not so easily solved. He then ignores the pleas of the 'dad' and breaks the 'family' up, giving the yaksheep to one who has only financial goals in mind. Later, Zuko has a change of heart regarding his own family. But it all goes wrong, and he even loses the new family (Mai) he wanted.

Zuko gets a chance at redemption, which makes the story for me. Without it, he's only a cross between a power-hungry tyrant (taking after his father) and the mewling brat obsessively seeking to restore his 'honor' that he was in Season 1 of _Avatar_. When Zuko realizes what he's done to Cornelia, his guilt forces him to seek atonement, and we see there's still some hope for him. At that time, he could have confided in someone (Shen, for instance, or maybe even ask Taranee for help) and chose a different path. But Azula's psychological warfare scores a direct hit on Zuko's soul, the redemptive moment vanishes, and the road to damnation opens wide for him yet again. It's only at the end that Zuko realizes what his quest has cost him. But it's too late. There's no turning back now.

Zuko sold out everything he believed in for a 'destiny' told him by a Spirit with ulterior motives. He sacrificed Cornelia, his relationships with Mai and Iroh, even the whole Fire Nation, on the altar of his own ambition. At the end, there's nothing left for him _but _that ambition. All he has is this crazy destiny to become the next Avatar, even though that's preposterous! But nothing will stop him. What happens next? Wait and see!


	8. The Pre Invasion Jitters

**Author's Note: The tale of the Ancient Avatar heats up in this chapter. His story is very important for our present day heroes. In fact, he's already involved with most of them in one form or another! Then it's on to the pre-Invasion, starring all our wonderful cast members. Who's the spy? Who's plotting against the GAang? The Hay Lin/Aang/Katara triangle gets steamy (and icy)! Blood bending! Zuko's Zealots! Cornelia gets planted (but only in a good way)! Plus, the wackiest War Council ever! Everyone's getting just a mite nervous about this whole Invasion thing, and not even Caleb's soothing voice or dreamy eyes or dazzling smile can alleviate their discomfort. It's the dance we call 'The Pre-Invasion Jitters'!**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

A Long Time Ago...

_After the Avatar's night of drunken debauchery with the three women of the village, a curious thing happened._

_One of the girls stuck around!_

_She was not favored by the local townspeople (her entire family - all except her, that is - had fallen prey to a malady. Therefore, she was considered unlucky), so she told the Avatar she had no better prospects and would stay with him._

_He reacted harshly!_

_The Avatar treated the woman terribly! He berated her constantly, made her perform the most menial of tasks (some even pack animals would object to!), would not call her by her proper name (not even when they lay together!) and regularly invited other women to share his bed._

_But still, she would not leave him! She followed the Avatar from town to town as he traveled the world seeking fame and fortune. Many times the Avatar would return to the place where he 'slew' (his words) the vengeful Spirit, Koh, because that was where his reputation truly began, and he enjoyed taking all he could from the townspeople, never letting them forget what he did for them._

_In time, after many years of living with the Avatar, the woman bore him a son and two daughters. Children the Avatar did his best to ignore._

_She made excuses for him, telling any who would ask of his behavior, "That is the Avatar's way. They cannot form attachments."_

_Then one day, the Avatar was visited by a man of the village who craved a boon._

_He had lost something of great value in the woods, and would pay the Avatar handsomely to retrieve it._

_The Avatar jumped at the chance to line his pocket!_

_He hurriedly left, saying nary a word to his common-law 'wife' (although he did briefly smile at seeing his children at play. But very briefly. A mere split-second flash of a smile, really) and called to his lackey, the son of the only person in town who could stand him, to make ready his mount (an ornery air bison called Peachie, named for the peaches he would steal from anyone unlucky enough to get near him with any)._

_Sailing above the forest, the Avatar thought he spied what the man sought, and ordered Peachie to land._

_But it was a trap!_

_Peachie plowed into a wall of solid air (quite uncharacteristic for an air bison!) and fell to the ground!_

_His master was not as lucky._

_The Avatar was caught...in the middle of a large, metal ring suspended in the midst of a barren clearing of the forest!_

_As Peachie flew away (supposedly to get help - at least that was what the Avatar hoped - but who would deign to help an obnoxious jerk such as he?), the man from the village who had retained the Avatar's services approached._

_"Hello, Avatar. Remember me?" the man asked, a cruel smile curling his lips._

_"You, (gasp), you hired me! What is the meaning of this??" the Avatar spat, as he struggled to no avail to free himself. None of the elements he commanded could effect his release from this diabolical contraption! (And in fact, some of the Avatar's bending abilities, particularly lightning, only made the trap more painful!)_

_"I am the one you wronged years ago when you took my woman for your own pleasure!" the man barked in response. "Oh, by the way..." he added. "Koh sends his regards."_

_"He'll be here soon." the man teased, enjoying every second of his enemy's anguish. "Right after he visits your wife and children!"_

Chapter 7: The Pre-Invasion Jitters

_Flashback_

_"What of the Avatar'? Our plans did not go as you stated they would!" an annoyed Zuko criticized his spiritual benefactor in the ancient being's musty lair._

"_A less than minor wrinkle in the overall plan, Fire Lord Zuko." rasped the devious insectoid Koh, smiling wickedly with one of his many stolen faces. "The Avatar will come to you at the appointed hour. He is driven to the task. He cannot help himself."_

_"Yes. The Avatar is a fool, and deserves all that happens to him." Zuko gravely intoned._

_End Flashback_

ooooooooooooooo

---September 21st---

---Two days before the return of Sozin's Comet---

---2:12AM---

FASHHH!

**Fire!**

The alarm rang out!

Quickly, the Avatar and his compatriots jumped out of their sleeping bags, ran out of their tents (some of which were on fire!) and confronted the...

...Fire Nation Army?

No. It was two young men and a woman, and they all had lit...fingers.

Though they wore Fire Nation military armor, they didn't appear to be warriors at all!

First of all, their armor was very old, and falling apart.

Second, the 'soldiers' were obviously out of shape!

Third, the fires they set were weak, and easily put out by a cup of water.

"Who..are you?" a very annoyed (and, with his warwolf hood on his head, very menacing!) Chief Hakoda demanded.

"We're Fire Lord Zuko's proteges, and we're here to demand your surrender!" one of the three shouted.

Hakoda turned to his fellow warriors and Aang's group. They were all too shocked at the ridiculous trio's brazen attitude to even laugh at them!

Returning his attention to the three fire bending 'soldiers', Hakoda answered simply "No."

"Then you leave me no choice!" the leader of the group stated. "We'll burn this whole camp down!" he threatened, waving his 'fire finger' like a match.

A 'match' that Hakoda then wrapped his own hand around, and snuffed out!

"Ow ow ow!!" the fire leader yelped, waving his extinguished hand around in a futile attempt to reduce the pain he was suffering.

After the three 'Fire Lord proteges' were tied up, with their dangerous 'fingers' covered in heavy leather so they couldn't hurt anyone (least of all themselves!), the senior staff of the Allied camp discussed the unusual event.

"Obviously cannon fodder." Bato commented. "Zuko must be getting desperate!"

Hakoda looked to the Avatar for his opinion.

"It doesn't make any sense!" Aang declared. "Why send fire benders to attack at night, when they're at their weakest??"

"For the Fire Lord!" one of the fire benders yelled.

"For the Fire Nation!" another of the fire trio shouted.

"They're certainly committed to the cause." Master Pakku commented. "Unlike other members of the Fire Nation Army we've encountered in the past."

"I don't think they're soldiers at all!" Aang theorized.

"Then what are they??" Hakoda asked.

"I...I don't know." the baffled Aang answered quite honestly.

"You've seen the intelligence reports." Bato added his analysis. "Zuko purged the upper ranks of the Fire Army of everyone he couldn't trust, and without fearsome commanders to keep the troops in line, there were mass desertions! This is what's left. He's scraping the bottom of the barrel! The time to strike is now!" Water Tribe Chief Strategist Bato insisted.

"Unless that's what the Fire Lord wants us to think!" thundered Earth Kingdom General How.

While the heads of the Allies debated the purported strengths and weaknesses of the Fire Nation's armed forces, behind them, the leader of the fire trio blew and blew, until he breathed fire out his mouth.

Unfortunate fact #1: The odd fire bender aimed too low, and set his own shirt on fire!

Unfortunate fact #2: While attempting to blow himself out (without setting even more of himself on fire!), he attracted the attention of Katara!

_What the?? _Katara thought to herself, as she caught a glimpse of flame on the Fire Nation man's chest right before he extinguished it.

Then the water bending lass noticed the fervent fan of the Fire Lord pursed his lips and began blowing very excitedly...in Aang's direction!

She quickly put the pieces together.

"No!" she yelled, reflexively pointing her outstretched right arm at the captive Fire National.

Then something very strange happened.

The weird Fire Nation soldier...stopped! Froze in place!

And then choked on his own breath-generated flame, swallowing the entire fire blast meant for his enemies!

"Agkkk! Wheeze!!" he gasped.

"Huh??" Katara, dumbfounded, stared at her right hand. _Did I do that? _she pondered.

While Aang, Hakoda, Pakku, Gen. How and Bato continued their discussion, oblivious to the way too close attempt on their lives, the master water bender from the South Pole, under the light of the first night of the full moon, wondered what was going on.

Oh, and the joke of a fire bender had one request of his captors.

"W...water...Pleassse." he begged.

The Duke, though, had little mercy for the captive trio, bopping each of the annoying fire benders on the head until they shut the hell up!

ooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, in the Fire Nation's Capital City (formerly Sozin City), Fire Lord Zuko, in his private war room, reviewed the latest scroll reports from the heads of the military.

_Fire Lord Zuko:_

_The defensive preparations you requested for the Colonies are complete. However, on the home front, I must ask for more men! The quality of recruit we are receiving, while enthusiastic, are totally lacking in fire bending skill, general physical fitness and discipline. _

_General Huang_

But the Fire Lord dismissed his concerns

"Hmphh! You'd think he'd be happy to have eager troops! It's called a volunteer army, General! Get used to it! Suck it up and work with what you have!" said Zuko, thinking aloud. "Now let's see what the Admiral has to say..."

_Oh Most Supreme and Exalted Lord of Fire Zuko:_

_Our fleet stands ready to defend the Nation._

_But we can do much more than that. With our submarines, we can launch a surprise attack on the Earth Navy while they're still in port! _

_However, Admiral Chan informs me we lose more and more of our advantage every day, as the number of available subs shrinks due to accidents, maintenance issues and the scuttling of the occasional undersea craft before they are discovered and intercepted. We must strike now while we can, and deliver a crippling blow to our enemy!_

_For the Fire Lord!_

_For the Fire Nation!_

_Admiral Gin Sing_

"Sorry, Admiral. Then the Earth Kingdom would set their sights on a different target, such as the Colonies. And I need them here." Fire Lord Zuko opined, admitting he WANTED the Earth Kingdom to invade the mainland Fire Nation!

Finally, Zuko took out the note carried by messenger hawk from the mysterious and secretive leader of Fire Sight (the military intelligence/spy agency). His top spy had already given him valuable information on potential allies, so he was very interested in any insights he might have on the current situation. After decoding the message, Zuko read it silently to himself.

_FL:_

_Have observed A. _

_Gets better and better every day in fb._

_There was a disturbance in camp (some of yours?), but A and others did not change course._

_Ships nearly loaded. Should sail soon. _

"Ah, good. Then it's about to begin." Zuko commented.

_P.S. Have observed 2 girls, per request. They are still with A._

"Hmmmm."

ooooooooooooooo

Aang practiced his fire bending skills. After weeks of training, he finally had achieved some mastery of it. As he bent successive balls of fire, he juggled them easily, like some carnival sideshow attraction.

Then Aang spotted his fire bending teacher.

"Master Roku! Look what I can do!" the upbeat Avatar bragged. "Have you come to teach me more fire bending?"

But the former Avatar wore a long face. "I'm sorry, Aang." he said.

"W, what??" Aang was baffled. "Why are you sorry?"

"I failed you, Aang." the downtrodden Avatar from the Fire Nation of a hundred years ago admitted.

"Master? I don't understand." Aang anxiously replied.

"I wasn't strong enough. And now it's all up to you." Roku sadly told the present day incarnation of the Avatar spirit.

"Beware the fire, Aang." Avatar Roku warned as he faded away.

"What fire??" Aang was starting to get scared. "Do you mean the comet?!!"

"Fire enough to burn the world!" the spirit of Roku exclaimed before dissipating into nothingness.

Then there was a roar, and Aang's merrily juggled fireballs merged into one giant ball of fire that grew and grew! In an instant, it enlarged until it was half the size of the young Air Monk.

"Yiiii!!" Aang screamed, as he struggled to control it!

"Aang?" a voice said.

Aang knew who it was without even looking.

"Katara?" Aang said, dread welling up in his heart.

"Do you need help?" Katara asked.

"No! Katara! Stay back!! I can't...!"

Then the hellish fireball grew to enormous proportions!

It quickly consumed the neighboring tents.

Then the nearby town.

The coast.

The whole Earth Kingdom.

The world.

It consumed everything. All there was.

But Aang didn't see any of that.

He focused on the first thing the fire devoured.

The flames burning away the skin, the bones, the face...of the girl he loved.

"Aang? Why couldn't you save..." the girl said, while she still had mouth enough to form words, flesh dripping off her skeleton like wet rice.

Then Aang woke up.

"**Aaahhhhhh!!!**" he screamed.

"Aang? You were having a nightmare. It's okay." the gentle voice sweetly said.

"Katara?? But...Oh." Aang replied, realizing he was now awake in the tent where the Allies were encamped. "I had a dream. About Avatar Roku. I...I don't think he wants us to invade the Fire Nation. Or something bad will happen."

"Bad? Like what?" the water bender from the adjoining tent asked.

"I couldn't control my fire bending, and ...things happened because of it. Terrible things!" Aang answered, averting his eyes from the lovely water bender lass lest she see how greatly the awful dream had affected him.

"But you said Roku taught you fire bending in your dreams?" Katara pointed out, reminding Aang of the number of times Roku visited him while he slept, delivering new fire bending moves each time. "I'm sure it's just nerves, Aang. You're anxious about the upcoming battle."

"I guess you're right." Aang agreed. It was a battle that had to be fought. Sozin's Comet was due to return soon, and if the Fire Nation wasn't stopped before it arrived, Fire Lord Zuko and his hordes would be unbeatable!

"Here, let me show you something." Katara grasped the arm of the young air bender and escorted him outside. She pointed to the sky. "See that?"

Aang looked up. It was overcast. "Clouds? So?"

"So the clouds cover the whole sky, Aang! Even the skies over the Fire Nation!" Katara said with glee.

"You mean they're blocking the sun?" Aang put it together. "And fire benders get their power from the sun!"

"Exactly! Which makes this the best time to defeat the Fire Lord!" Katara exclaimed. "It's an omen, Aang. A good one."

"I think you're right, Katara." Aang smiled in agreement.

Little did the two young heroes know of the true origin of the clouds that encircled the Earth.

If only Aang had taken to his element, and examined upclose the dust, ash and debris that constituted the 'clouds' overhead.

If only...But that would be a very different story. And not the tale we tell here.

ooooooooooooooo

Later that morning, three of our heroes left the (relative) safety of the Allies' tent camp (they had to live in tents due to the huge influx of refugees into the city of Omashu. The city couldn't house them all, forcing some refugees to live in camps. Aang refused to take a home away from any refugees by living in Omashu, and the others followed his lead) and visited the vast Omashu city market to do the pre-Invasion shopping...

"There's plenty of fish in the sea, but Dad says we need lures." Katara said, mentioning her father, Chief Hakoda of the South Pole Water Tribe, as she, Irma and Hay Lin walked by the peddlers' stalls.

"How's this, Katara?" Irma asked, picking up a very long, wiggly (and live!) sea slug worm.

"Ewwwww!" Hay Lin disgustedly uttered upon seeing the slimy creature!

"I don't know. I think we need something with more fishy appeal than that." Katara replied offhandedly.

"More appeal? Okay! You're the fish miss!" Irma quipped, and absentmindedly tossed the 18 inch sea slug worm up in the air.

Then the worm came down on Hay Lin's back!

As Hay Lin desperately tried to dislodge the ambling annelid by jumping up and down (she dared not touch it!), Irma saw the stern look on Katara's face as she shopped and realized the water bender was dealing with more issues than the right bait to buy. "Katara? You have something on your mind? Because no one is this serious about a bunch of worms!"

"Hmm? Oh." Katara looked up at the Water Guardian. "It's nothing. Aang had a bad dream and woke me up this morning. That's all."

Katara thought that would be the end of the discussion, but Irma wouldn't take her eyes off of the girl from the South Pole. She kept on staring, until Katara couldn't stand it any more!

"Okay, okay! It's more than that!" Katara admitted, while Hay Lin twirled 'round and 'round in an unsuccessful attempt to throw the creature from the deep off her back! "Something strange happened last night."

You mean those weird fire benders?" Irma inquired.

"No. Yes. Sort of." Katara babbled, not making much sense. Behind her, a dizzy Hay Hay nearly fell down.

" 'Scuse me for a sec." Irma interjected. Then Irma plucked the sea slug worm off Hay Lin's left shoulder blade. The Guardian of Air was much relieved to be rid of the thing! Whereupon Irma shoved the long (and friendly!) worm into Hay Lin's face! "It's just a silly worm, Hay Lin! Don't be such a wuss!" Irma then lobbed the creepy crawler back into the bait bin, and Hay Lin almost passed out.

"You were saying?" Irma said, turning back to Katara.

"One of the fire benders was about to burn Aang and, somehow, I told him to stop! It was like I took control of him!" the master of water in all its forms (liquid, solid & gas) revealed. "I know it doesn't make much sense, but I could feel the water bending through my hand! It was like I was commanding the water in his body! It really freaked me out!" the anxiety-ridden water bender added.

"Blood bending." the ancient voice behind them said.

"What?" Katara gasped.

"Uh oh! Creepy old lady at six o'clock!" Irma sarcastically quipped.

"Irma! That's not very nice!" the sensitive Hay Hay criticized.

"That's okay, dearie! I've been called much worse! And I _was_ listening in, which is not very polite." the old woman with the long, wild and scraggly hair cackled.

"What do you mean - 'blood bending'?" Katara wanted to know.

"Are you a water bender?" the elderly woman asked.

"Yes." Katara blankly responded.

"In my...youth...I heard of water benders who could, when the moon was full, control the water in a man's body, and thereby control him!" the wizened crone explained. "It's the very pinnacle of water bending, the crowning achievement of the art! It was only after this knowledge was lost that the number of Water Tribes dwindled until only a few remained in the world!"

"It didn't feel like the pinnacle of anything! It, it felt terrible!" Katara cried.

"Pshah! You just need more practice!" the old lady dismissed Katara's moral concerns. "Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to protect your home and family very well!"

"But I don't want to get used to it! I hate how it made me feel! No one should have power like that! It's unnatural! And I can protect my family and friends just fine as is, thank you very much!" the defensive Southern Water Tribe girl argued.

"Children! They think they're so smart, yet they're so naive!" the senior citizen derisively snorted.

"Um, excuse me, but, who are you, and how do you know about this 'blood bending'?" a curious and concerned Hay Lin asked.

"Who? Me? I'm no one, dearie." the waaay up in her years woman responded. "Just an old refugee, on her way home after many years away. As for blood bending, I've seen many things in my travels. But all I want to do now is go home. I've always been afraid I'd find it in worse shape than I left, and that idea has kept me away for too long. But with the war over, I can hope again."

"Oh." was all Hay Lin could say to that.

"My name's Hama." the old woman greeted the children, who then introduced themselves.

"Hi, Hama!" a cheery Hay Lin shook the elderly lady's hand. "I'm Hay Lin, that's Katara, and that's Irma!"

"Pleased to meet you!" Katara politely said as she grasped Hama's hand. "I hope you weren't offended by what I said."

"No, of course not! We all develop at our own pace. You'll learn, dearie! Hee hee!" the strange oldster cackled, thoroughly creeping Katara out!

"Hey, Hama! I'm a water bender, too! Well, sort of!" Irma jumped into the conversation.

"Really? How nice! And your friend? Is she a water bender, also?" Hama inquired.

"Hay Lin? Nahhh! She's an ai-uh, she's not. No!" Irma decided it would be too awkward to say Hay Hay was an air bender, because right away people assume she's the Avatar, and that's when things get _really_ confusing! Best to say nothing at all, Irma thought.

"Oh! That's too bad!" Hama sympathized.

"No. Not really!" the bubbly Air Guardian retorted.

"As for controlling the water in a person's body, watch this!" Irma enthusiastically entreated the other three.

Then Hay Lin began bouncing up and down!

"Oooh! Ooh! Ihavetogorightnow!" she quietly screamed, and then ran off to find a private place to relieve herself!

"Irma, what did you…?" the dumbfounded Katara blurted.

"Just call it 'bladder bending'!" the witty girl from Heatherfield joked.

Without meaning to, Katara giggled. Then chortled. Then a full belly laugh and a hearty guffaw issued from her throat!

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Snort!" she wheezed! "Oh, Irma, that's too much!"

The thought of controlling another human being through their bodily fluids disturbed Katara greatly, but leave it to the Water Guardian to turn even this horrible topic on its head! Her antics brought the Water Tribe maiden practically to tears - tears of laughter, that is!

Katara wondered how they ever did without the strange water bender from beyond.

As for Hama, she had a much different reaction to Irma's water-controlling stunt!

The ancient water bending master from the South Pole, who had suffered many years in Fire Nation prisons, had hoped to mold these youngsters in her image of what a water bender should be. But, with her arms raised in surrender, Hama disdainfully remarked "Kids!" and stalked off, never to be seen again!

When the girls stopped laughing, they looked around, but Hama was nowhere in sight.

"Huh? Where'd she go?" Katara asked no one in particular.

"Back home?" Irma attempted to answer the rhetorical question. "Um, Katara..." Irma had a question for her water sister, but had trouble enunciating it.

"Hmm. Back to shopping, then!" Katara logically announced.

While Hay Lin continued her search for a hole in the ground she could call her own, Katara resumed grocery shopping, with Irma following after her.

"Wow. This is good fruit!" Katara said, fingering the squashmelon with her fingers and finding nary a mushy spot. "I guess, with the war over here in the Earth Kingdom, they're finally able to pick it off the vine when it ripens! Although the cabbages are terrible! They look like they've been through three wars, at least!" Katara added, flicking the unsavory cabbage back into Cabbage Man's bushel, unknowingly knocking over the bushel which then, in a chain reaction, toppled other bushels of cabbages, causing Cabbage Man's cart to tip over and fall onto his neighbor's cart, and so on, and so on, throughout the marketplace.

"Yeah, that's great, Katara." her shopping companion, Irma Lair, dazedly commented, paying little attention to what the water bender said, and even less to the aftermath of the water elemental duo's passage down the aisle of the market, oblivious to the unwitting destruction Katara wrought. Irma had joined the city market excursion ostensibly to stock up for the invasion of the Fire Nation, which could potentially be a long siege. However, the Water Guardian had other motives, questions and doubts that had roiled her head for the past month and a half, yet remained unvoiced. It was only now, after all the hi-jinks and pranks, when she was alone with her friend Katara (Hay Lin being otherwise occupied), that Irma got solemn and enunciated the question that had kept her up at night. "But can I ask you something? When me and Aang were in that spiritcatcher trap thing back in the Fire Nation, he said his enemies might try to rescue him. What did Aang mean by that?"

"Oh, that?" Katara replied, examining the out of season lychee nuts for any signs of rot. "Well, Zuko did save Aang once. Commander Zhao had captured him, you see, and locked him up in a fortress...Wait. That wasn't the only time." Katara added, as she selected some exceptional moon peaches. "Zuko also kept Aang alive at the North Pole. Aang was unconscious at the time. He would have been a goner if Zuko hadn't found that cave. Oh! There was also the Peace Conference! You remember that, of course."

"Oh yeah. Thanks. Thanks a lot." the Guardian of Water said, recalling how Zuko saved Aang from the unknown assailants that attacked the Avatar at the Omashu Peace Conference. "That helps me understand the situation a little better."

"I know what you mean." the water bender offered. "Zuko's a really confused guy! I think he thinks he's doing the right thing, or he justifies it to himself as the right thing, but he's still way wrong, and we can't trust him!" Katara continued, as she paid the merchant for the green goods. "So what brought this on? A kind of 'know your enemies' thing? I thought you already knew what bad news Zuko was."

"Right! 'Know your enemies'! Exactly! When it comes to your enemies, you can't know too little!" a cheery Irma Lair declared. Then added, in a much weaker voice. "About them...or your friends."

"What?" Katara reflexively retorted. Then her attention was diverted by a salesman's fresh batch of snagglegrass salad.

"Nothing." Irma nonchalantly replied. "Hey, check out the meat jerky!" Irma distractedly added, pointing to the butcher's spread of meaty goodness. "Toph would love that! And it's on sale!"

ooooooooooooooo

Later that morning, an unusually serious Irma Lair searched for her fellow Heatherfieldian.

"Hay Lin? Can I talk to you? In private?" Irma interrupted her friend. Hay Lin had been loading supplies onto their ship, but upon hearing the urgent tone in her companion's voice, stopped what she was doing and hurried down the dock to speak to the Water Guardian, passing Pipsqueak, The Duke and Bato along the way.

"What's up, Irma?" Hay Lin asked. "And why is it so important we can't talk in front of our friends?"

"That's just it, Hay Lin." Irma uttered the foul idea. "We don't know if they ARE our friends! Somehow, Zuko knew what we had planned in our first invasion!"

"What do you mean? There's a spy among us??" the alarmed Hay Hay gasped.

"Yes. But it's even worse than that." Irma spoke, barely above a whisper as she glanced around to make sure prying eyes did not have them in their sights. "It's about the motives of the people we're with!"

"Irma! What are you saying??" the shocked Air Guardian replied. "Aang's a great guy! His motives are pure!"

"Sure he is. And sure they are. But probably TOO pure!" Irma elaborated. "I did some checking around, and Aang and the others don't think Zuko is a bad guy! They believe he's 'misguided'! Hay Hay, you saw him back in Avatar Town! You know he's nuts!!"

"Yes, but, I don't understand where you're going with this, Irma?" Hay Lin meekly inquired.

"Get this: When Zuko was chasing Aang around the world, he also saved his life. Three times! Hay Lin, Aang has no killer instinct when it comes to this guy! He can't put Zuko down for good!" Irma explained. "We've been following the wrong person!"

"But, but you were there!" Hay Lin pointed out. "You said yourself, Aang did everything he could to capture Zuko!"

"Maybe so, but we didn't do everything WE could to free our friends, and that's what we should have focused on!" Irma argued. "We let ourselves get too caught up in Aang's freedom army stuff, and we shouldn't have done that!"

"But it was a good plan! We were going to free the country and get our friends back!" Hay Lin recalled the Day of Black Sun invasion. "We just got...unlucky."

"Hay Lin..." Irma paused, to give her Guardian sister time to digest the irrefutable logic of her next few words. "If I hadn't been with Aang when he knocked on Zuko's door...or you hadn't played Avatar...if instead we had got to Cornelia, talked to her...Sokka would still be alive today, wouldn't he?"

"Well, I don't know. I mean, it was a war zone, anything could have..." Hay Lin squeaked, in a desperate attempt to ignore what she knew in her heart.

"Hay Lin..."

"...You're right, Irma. He would be." a downcast Hay Lin admitted the awful truth! "So, we should leave? Is that it??" she asked.

"No. We can use the Freedom Fighters to get into the Fire Nation capital city. Then, as soon as we know where Will, Cornelia and Taranee are, we take care of business."

"Shouldn't we talk to Aang about this?" Hay Lin suggested. "Or Katara? I'm sure they'd understand!"

"No! Like I said before, we can't trust anybody!" Irma reiterated. "Sure, we could probably trust Aang or Katara, but if one of them blabs our plans, and the wrong person hears..."

"What about Caleb?" the irritated Guardian of Air snapped. "Do we keep him out of the loop, too?" she sarcastically said.

"We'll tell him when we get there." Irma answered. "He's too close to Toph right now, but as soon as we find the girls, he'll be on our side!"

"I understand what you're saying, Irma, but it still feels like...betrayal!" the upset Air Guardian spat out the ugly word as if it were poison!

"We're not betraying our friends, Hay Lin! Not our true friends! We're looking out for them! And they'd do the same for us, if our positions were reversed. Don't worry about Aang and the rest. They can take care of themselves. But we're the only ones who can take care of Will, Taranee and Cornelia!" Irma happily announced.

"I suppose you're right." Hay Lin reluctantly agreed with her Guardian girlfriend.

"Of course I'm right!" Irma replied. "Now why don't we see what snacks we can take with us? It's a long boat ride to the Fire Nation, and if I recall correctly, they don't have a lot of fizzy tea over there!"

Then, Hay Lin's hand went to her forehead, and her face contorted in pain.

"Hey, are you OK?" a concerned Irma Lair inquired.

"It's just a headache. I haven't been sleeping well." Hay Lin explained.

"Yeah? Aang complained about that, too. Maybe there's a bug going around?" Irma offered.

"Maybe." Hay Lin, still squeezing her temple, replied.

Meanwhile, in a far-off land, golden eyes watched the two Guardians plot against their benefactors. The man beheld their images in a multi-faceted pink jewel and encapsulated his feelings on all he saw and heard in one comment: _Perfect._

ooooooooooooooo

The Fire Lord's personal mongoose dragon-drawn carriage, escorted by the members of the Royal Guard, rolled through the downtown streets of the Fire Nation's Capital City.

The soot from the distant volcanic eruptions fell lightly upon the ground, covering everything in a grey, ashen blanket.

Finally, the caravan stopped at the Central Plaza.

The soldiers driving the carriage alighted, and opened the door on the side of the carriage's passenger compartment.

A man wearing a very distinctive headpiece - Fire Lord Zuko - got off. But he was not alone. He carried in his arms a young woman with long, blonde hair. She appeared to be asleep.

The Fire Lord carried his living burden to the center of the Plaza, in the middle of carefully manicured shrubs and bonsai trees, and set the teen girl down on the ground.

Almost immediately, the vegetation in the area grew around her! More than that, the trees of the landscaped area grew taller, reaching for the sky! The vines of the horticultural environment sent creepers along the ground, pushing out of the artificial confines of the city garden. Flowers sprouted along the perimeter. All over, there was a green explosion of plant life!

In a matter of moments, the one known as Cornelia Hale, Plant Spirit, was 'potted' - her limbs attached to the greenery in the vicinity, her skin acquired a light emerald hue, and she became the centerpiece of an enormous, newly-grown garden in the middle of the city!

"Er, sire?" one _extremely _hesitant guard began. "Ah, she is the Plant Spirit..."

"Yes? **And??**" Zuko asked, with a piercing stare that left the newly stationed member of the Royal Guards feeling naked and vulnerable.

"Well, your majesty..." the frazzled defenseman searched for the right words to describe his unease. He knew he couldn't say Fire Lord Zuko's actions offended the Spirit World, because then the Fire Lord would be offended, and that'd be the last anyone would ever hear from him again! No, far better to offer a military explanation. If only he could come up with a good one! "If, if the Earth Kingdom invades, and her, you know, the Plant Spirit's friends find her like this...won't...won't they be mad, sire?" the Royal Guardsman nervously suggested.

Zuko glared at the young officer, perhaps debating whether he should answer the question. Then he said "That's the general idea. But I'm impressed by your incisive analysis of the situation! What's your name?"

"Lt. Wing, sire!" said the beaming military man, pleasantly surprised by the compliment.

"Well, Lt. Wing", said a smiling Zuko, as he placed a friendly arm around the guard and began walking next to him, "I'd really like to place a commendation in your file."

"R, really, sire?" said the stunned soldier.

"Yes, really. But instead, I'll leave you with these words of advice - watch your step." Fire Lord Zuko admonished the young Guardsman.

"Wha?" the puzzled military officer uttered. He looked down at his feet, and saw his boots had stepped on one of Cornelia's creeping stalks!

Quicker than thought, a huge vine shot out of the jungle the Plaza had become and ensnared the shocked Royal Guard!

"Ahhhh! No!! Help!" Lt. Wing screamed. He struggled to break free, but to no avail!

Immediately, his fellow guards rushed to his aide! Two tried to free Lt. Wing from the grasping greenery, while a third wrestled with the thick vine to stop it from dragging its victim into the dark heart of the chlorophyll jungle!

But the vine was too strong, and pulled all of the men into the wild garden!

Instinctively, one of the battling warriors drew his sword, ready to cut the mad shoot that held Lt. Wing.

But he was stopped in his tracks by the Lord of the Fire Nation!

"Save your fellow soldier if you must, but no swords, axes, machetes or fire bending." advised the 'helpful' Zuko. "Trust me, you don't want to get her mad!"

"Now then…" the stern Fire Lord addressed the remainder of his troops, "Anyone else have any more brilliant comments they wish to share?" he asked, although he didn't expect a response.

The men were silent. No one dared challenge Lord Zuko!

Though his men would say naught against him to his face, Zuko sensed there was still much resistance to his decrees. So the Fire Lord turned to his Captain of the Guard to make an example of him.

"What do you think, Captain Zindao?" Zuko said, in an almost interrogatory manner. "Are my actions correct?"

"I'm loyal to the Fire Nation, sire." the Captain calmly replied. "And you are the Fire Nation, Lord Zuko."

"And your uncle, Admiral Zhao?" Fire Lord Zuko pressed, mentioning the name of the ambitious, violent fire bender who tried to ruin Zuko's plans at the North Pole. "What would he think of what I've done?"

"My Uncle was a fool, your majesty! Anyone who would kill a Spirit has to be either a fool or mad! Therefore, his opinion is immaterial." Captain Zindao logically argued, referring to Zhao's ill-fated attempt to kill the Moon Spirit who lived in the Spirit Oasis at he North Pole.

"Yes. Quite. Very good." Zuko, rather satisfied with his aide's response, replied.

Suddenly, something caught Lord Zuko's eye! One of his men was about to pluck a tasty picklefruit off a tree.

"i wouldn't do that!" Zuko cautioned. "The Plant Spirit can sense that, too!"

"Seriously, sire?" the befuddled Royal Guard asked.

"If she can feel a leaf fall off a tree a thousand miles away, then what do you think?" the Fire Lord offered.

"Ulp! But, but..." the soldier stammered, frozen in mid-pluck. "...It's almost off the tree already! If I take my hand away, it'll fall on the ground!"

"Then don't take your hand away!" the ever beneficial Fire Lord advised. Meanwhile, the paralyzed paramilitary, while holding onto the picklefruit, fought desperately to keep his arms and legs from shaking!

Then the Fire Lord was interrupted by a member of his military staff.

"Are you sure the invasion is imminent, your majesty?" a cautious army general asked the supreme ruler of the Fire Nation. Behind him, more and more of the guards fought Cornelia's flailing, viny 'arms'! Though the Earth Guardian slumbered through her Plant Spirithood, her vegetative 'extensions' automatically acted to protect her from any perceived threat! Still other soldiers sought to somehow 'glue' the picklefruit back onto its tree.

In response to the general's query, Zuko looked into the pink depths of the Heart of Candracar. And saw the Air Guardian with the Avatar.

"Yes. Absolutely. The invasion will begin soon." Zuko coldly announced.

Then the Fire Lord's fist closed around the Heart.

Meanwhile, in the Earth Kingdom port on the western coast where the Allies made final preparations to leave on their mission of Fire Nation liberation, an anxious water bender sought out the one person who could ease the pain in her troubled soul, the boy who was closer to her than anybody in the world since her brother died, the young air bender called...

...No...

...Aang was with someone else! Hay Lin!

And they were...

ooooooooooooooo

What Katara (and Zuko) Saw: Hay Lin and Aang…

"Thank you, Hay Lin!" cried the last air bender, wrapping his arms around the Air Guardian from Heatherfield. "I love you!"

"I, I love you, too, Aang!" replied the petite Asian girl, her voice almost cracking with emotion, their embrace full of love and caring.

ooooooooooooooo

What Happened Next: Katara and Aang…

Katara was embarrassed to have stumbled onto such a tender, private moment, and quickly exited.

Later, Aang found Katara busying herself with packing up their campsite.

"Katara?" Aang meekly said. "I have to talk to you about something."

"What is it, Aang?" snapped the irritated Katara. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Uh, yeah. Can't have enough pickled herring." the air bender commented, as he spied the many jars of the South Pole favorite food lined up in a row.

"No. You can't." the weary water bender responded. She wanted to ignore him, she wished he'd go away, but the boy Avatar couldn't (or wouldn't?) take the hint! Finally, she looked him in the eye and said "Sighhh. What do you want, Aang?"

"Katara, I..." He was going to say it! He just had to blurt it out! Why couldn't he say it???

"Yes, Aang?!?" the clearly annoyed Water Tribe girl spat.

"I...I love you, Katara, and I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you! I don't want you to go on the invasion!" There! He said it!! _Whew! What a relief! _ he thought to himself.

Aang smiled. He had finally unburdened his heart, and told the girl he loved what he thought of her!

Now, all that remained was for her to reciprocate his feelings!

Katara's head, though, was in another place altogether!

She was stunned! (And not in a good way!)

"I see." said the girl of too few words. "Excuse me, Aang. I have to finish packing."

And with that, the girl from the South Pole walked away from the boy who a moment before had professed his love for her!

Now Aang was the one who was stunned!

"What? But I...we..." he babbled. _I don't understand! _he thought. _What did I do wrong??_

For her part, Katara entertained much darker thoughts about their 'relationship'.

_Aang's got a lot of nerve! _Katara railed! _After I just saw him with Hay Lin??! Why can't he just say he's worried about me because of what happened to Sokka?? Why play these games??"_

What Happened Before (What Katara did not see): Hay Lin and Aang…

"I don't know what to do, Hay Lin!" the young Avatar, awash in confused feelings, bared his soul to his fellow air elemental. "I love Katara, but how do I tell her that without ruining our friendship and driving her away? Except I do want to drive her away! I had this awful dream, and I think something terrible will happen to her if she goes on the invasion with us! But I'm afraid that if I tell her I love her, then ask her to stay behind, she'll think I only said it to prevent her from winding up like her brother! It's a nightmare!" he said, his mind reeling from all the conflicting emotions.

"I can't tell you what to do, Aang." the wiser than her years Guardian girl replied. "But I know this: You have to be honest with her. If you love Katara, you have to tell her. And you also have to tell her why you think she should sit this battle out. People who love each other shouldn't...keep secrets." she added, hesitating on the last sentence.

"Thanks, Hay Lin. That's good advice. But Katara's stubborn! I think, even if I explain everything, she'll still want to go to the Fire Nation to avenge Sokka!" Aang pondered his dilemma. "If only I had some way to be sure she wouldn't be in any danger..."

He paused, and thought about it for a moment.

Then...

"I know!" Aang exclaimed, pure joy radiating from his face. "If we get in a dangerous jam, you can fly Katara out!"

"What?? Me?!!" Hay Lin stammered! "But..."

"It's perfect!" Aang gleefully explained. "You can fly, plus you can turn invisible! So you can save Katara, and she'll never see you coming so she won't be able to protest!"

"I don't know, Aang. That's not, you know, fair to the others. What if..." the Air Guardian stumbled over her words, recalling the vow she made to Irma to abandon Aang and the rest of the Allies when the first opportunity to re-unite with their fellow Guardians arose.

"Please??" Aang begged, his eyes bigger than any puppydog's.

"Okay, Aang. I...promise to keep Katara out of danger when we invade the Fire Nation!" Hay Lin said, uttering a vow she knew she would be unable to keep.

Relieved beyond the ability of words to express, Aang embraced the young air girl from another world and gave thanks.

Which is what Katara saw.

ooooooooooooooo

It had been a rough time for Cabbage Man.

The perennial seller of cabbages had run into misfortune wherever he went - Omashu, Ba Sing Se, plus many assorted villages.

And here, in the port town outside Omashu, Cabbage Man's luck was running true to form.

"Agh! My cabbages! Not again!!" he cried, as he gave chase to the runaway veggie cart while it careened down a steep hill, spilling a few loose cabbages along the way!

Then the cabbage wagon rolled down an outcropping and launched into the air, flying out of sight!

Cabbage Man thought he had lost his precious cabbages once again. Weary from the constant, losing struggle, the dispirited merchant stopped running, his arms drooping at his sides.

But then, something extraordinary happened!

"Is this yours, sir?" the strong, friendly voice said.

It was Caleb!

He stood there, the wind blowing through his hair, the sun behind highlighting his stature, as if he was ripped off the cover of some romance novel!

Simply put, Caleb looked...perfect.

And in his hand was the tether of the cart containing…

"My cabbages! Oh, thank you!!" gushed Cabbage Man.

While the euphoric cabbage merchant wheeled his recovered, undamaged cart to the next town, hopeful in the future, Caleb joined the Allies as they assembled before the ships that would take them on their journey of freedom and liberation.

"Your attention, people!" Hakoda announced. "Caleb would like to say something."

"Thank you, Chief Hakoda. It's an honor." Caleb then turned to the freedom fighters from the North Pole, South Pole, Earth Kingdom, including even a few rebels from the Fire Nation, and addressed them. "Before I say anything, I would just like to thank each and every one of you for welcoming me into your hearts, even though I'm not from your world. _(Polite applause). _Thank you. Like yourselves, I grew up in a world torn by war and violence. I know it's not easy. (_Katara glared at Aang). _At times, you wonder if the suffering will ever end. _(The 112-year old Avatar shifted nervously, occasionally glancing at Katara). _If all the pain you endure means anything except more pain. If freedom is only a myth. _(Irma suspiciously eyed the people around her, wondering who the traitor was). _But I'm here to tell you that freedom is real! That, if we work together, all the hopes and dreams you and your family, your nations, have ever had can come true! _(Much applause. But Hay Lin didn't applaud. Instead, the anguished, guilt-tripped Air Guardian cast her eyes downward). _I know, because I've been there! I've seen it, on my homeworld of Meridian! And two of the girls who helped liberate my land are here today! Irma, Hay Lin, take a bow! You deserve it! _(Irma played her part perfectly, performing a theatrical (and not quite sincere) bow, a big, plastic smile pasted to her face, while Hay Lin, wearing a slight, embarrassed smile, made a more modest dip). _And let's all give it up for your hero of heroes, the Avatar, who joins us on this great quest, without whom there would almost be no hope of success! _(Aang waved and smiled a toothy grin). _But let us never forget those who got us to this point. We, all of us, stand on the backs of giants. Those people who, without their sacrifice, we never would have made it this far! _(More applause). _I'm thinking of one individual in particular. The greatest man I ever knew. Maybe you've heard of him. He was called Sokka! _(Thunderous applause! Much hooting and cheering). _We embark on this great journey, not just for our sakes, and not just in memory of those we loved, but for all the countless people to come, that they may know the freedom and justice denied to us! For the Earth Kingdom! For the Water Tribes! For the memory of the Air Nomads and yes, for the people of the Fire Nation, too! For freedom! For Sokkaaaa!!!!" Caleb raised his arms in the air, and the crowd erupted! Wild, cacophonous applause joined with throaty cheers and boot-stomping on the ground to create a wall of noise and vibration that not even Toph's sensitive ears could penetrate. If she had, she may have noticed the odd unease, the skipped heartbeats, all of her companions shared on the eve of battle.

As it was, though, Toph was in her own, far more happy, world. Though she missed Sokka very much, and the merest mention of her lost love had brought her to tears, Caleb's wonderful words had soothed that pain for the moment, turning the young Earth Kingdom girl's tears into tears of joy.

Toph's attention was further diverted by an item rolling on the ground.

"What's this?" said the greatest earth bender ever, as she picked up the leafy vegetable and took a bite out of it.

"Mmm! This cabbage tastes great!" Toph exclaimed.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the celebratory pep rally, though Aang, Katara, Hay Lin and Irma appeared to whoop it up with the rest of the Freedom Fighters, they couldn't resist infrequent, uncomfortable stares at each other.

For the rest of the voyage to the Fire Nation, neither spoke to any of the others, unless it was for the most perfunctory of things, such as 'Pass the snagglegrass salad, please'.

And if anyone noticed their unusual shipboard behavior, they merely chalked it up to war jitters.

_Oh, what tangled webs we weave..._

ooooooooooooooo

In the 10th floor conference room of the Fire Lord's Palace Tower, Zuko held a War Council (Excuse me. _Defense _Council!) to discuss the current state of the Nation.

The members of the Council advising Zuko included:

Shen Ming, Chief of Staff - Zuko's 'cousin' (actually, the cousin of Zuko's cousin, Lu Ten) and longtime friend, this engineer by trade was thrown into the deep end of the ruling pool by virtue of Zuko's need for someone he could trust.

Zindao, Captain of the Guard - one of the top students in the history of the Royal Fire Academy and former (two time) Agni Kai champion of the Fire Army Tournament, the chief of the Home Guard defense forces (police) and the Royal Palace Guards was known for his superb fire bending skills and loyalty to the Fire Nation. Though a nephew of the hated Zhao, Zuko, due to his own life experience, did not consider family to be a punishable sin.

General Huang, head of the Army - a contemporary of Iroh (and his second-in-command during the Dragon of the West's ill-fated siege of Ba Sing Se), this well-respected military man came out of retirement to lead the Fire Nation Army after Fire Lord Zuko's purges of the 'disloyal' left the upper ranks decimated.

Admiral Gin Sing, leader of the Fire Nation Navy - a lifelong Navy man more at home on the water than land, he owed his title and job security to a very wise decision, made early in his career, to steer clear of politics. Oh, and also because he was a total kissass.

Bor Ku, Minister of Defense Production - A man of few words, he was usually found in a factory smelting ore into awesome Fire Nation weapons of destruction, which accounted for his husky appearance (and the few words). Not a people person.

Sen Po, Minister of Agriculture - probably the smartest man in the country, in that he eschewed the martial (war-loving) pursuits of the typical Fire Nation citizen and focused on peaceful activities, like farming, but had trouble winning converts to his position.

Xue Lao, Minister of Education - the prim and proper head of the educational system who some (specifically: Cornelia and Taranee) have encouraged to loosen up.

Lu Yan, Minister of Culture - once a traveling troubadour, he now spread his idea of 'culture' to all corners of the Fire Nation via his musical and dramatic proxies, and never missed a chance to communicate his views, no matter how hostile the audience.

The Duchess Dowager - the influential royal representing the nobility of the Fire Nation.

Jee Manh - the successful spice seller representing the merchant class of the Fire Nation.

The following is a transcript of their meeting, as recorded by the nimble fingers of the Official Calligrapher to the Royal Court, Mei Han.

Chief of Staff Shen Ming: I now call this meeting to order. Fire Lord Zuko, if you'll start?

Fire Lord Zuko: Thank you, Shen. This meeting of the Council is to discuss the state of our preparations for the conflict against the Earth Kingdom. But before that, would anyone like a drink? I'll take a Fire Ale.

General Huang: I'd like some jasmine tea.

F L Zuko: I see. Another fire ale.

Gen. Huang: But I said...

Captain Zindao: Ah, one of those mango beverages, if it's not too much trouble?

F L Zuko: Okay. Fire Ale for you.

Admiral Gin Sing: I'd love a Fire Ale!

F L Zuko: Fire Ale. Fire Ale?

Minister Bor Ku: Bor Ku love ale!

Minister Sen Po: This is ridiculous! There are important issues to be discussed, and we're talking about what to drink??!

F L Zuko: Fire Ale?

Min. Sen Po: Sighhh. Actually, I'd like a cinnamon cider.

F. L. Zuko: Got it. Fire Ale it is! Fire Ale?

Minister Xue Lao: Um, no. I don't drink hard beverages. I have to set an example for my students.

F L Zuko: I understand. I'll put you down for Fire Ale. Fire Ale?

Minister Lu Yan: That reminds me of a joke: A non-fire bender was trying to light a fire by rubbing two sticks together, but it wasn't working. So his friend undid his drawers and poked his piece at the firewood. 'What the heck are you doing??' the horrified non-bender asked. 'I just had some fire ale', his friend answered, 'and that stuff goes right through me!'

Min. Xue Lao: That's disgusting! If one of my students had said that...

Min. Lu Yan: Who do you think told me the joke?

(Min. Lu Yan strikes a small gong - GONG!!!)

F L Zuko: Fire Ale??!

Min. Lu Yan: What? Oh, sure! Whatever you say! You are the Fire Lord, after all! At least, you are until your sister grows a new leg!

(GONG!!!)

F L Zuko: **Fire**...**Ale?**

The Duchess Dowager: Whatever you Lordship wishes.

F L Zuko: Fire Ale?

Merchant Jee Manh: Of course, Fire Lord Zuko! By the way, do you know what the markup on fire ale is? I know some guys who are interested in investing in distributorships, if you could put in a good word...

Gen. Huang: Ahem! We are here to discuss the fate of our nation, and not tawdry business affairs!

Min. Sen Po: Well said.

F L Zuko: Very well, General Huang. Why don't you start? How fares the military?

Gen. Huang: The Fire Nation Army stands ready to defend the country against any attack, Fire Lord Zuko, sir!

F L Zuko: Really. Shen, where is the bulk of the military located?

C of S Shen Ming: Er, in the Colonies, sire.

F L Zuko: I see. Thank you, Shen. General?

Gen. Huang: They're there on your orders, your majesty! I stand behind my statement. The Army is fully prepared to...

F L Zuko: Yes, yes. Yawnnnn I hope you're right, General. For your sake. Others said you were too old to take on the job of commanding our forces. I didn't want to believe them, but...You know, that reminds me. Now that you're all here, I'd like to present my new reform. Feel free to tell me what you think. When Fire Nation citizens get too old, who takes care of them?

Min. Xue Lao: Ah, their family, sire?

F L Zuko: And if they don't have family?

Capt. Zindao: The town they live in?

F L Zuko: And if they live outside of town?

(No answer)

F L Zuko: That's why I'm proposing a new reform. I call it 'Society Security'. I was going to call it 'Old People Insurance', but...

Min. Lu Yan: But who cares about old people?

(GONG!!!)

Min. Lu Yan: Except for your Lordship, of course!

F L Zuko: Every Fire Nation citizen of a certain age will receive a stipend. They won't have to wonder where their next meal is coming from, or fight hogmonkys for a scrap of meat.

Adm. Gin Sing: That sounds wonderful, sire! You've outdone yourself once again!

F L Zuko: The credit goes to Shen! I got the idea from how he handled the Fire Lord's disputes.

C of S Shen Ming: Thank you, sire! You're most gracious and kind!

F L Zuko: Also, Lo and Li were totally bugging me for money!

(GONG!!!)

Adm. Gin Sing: Sorry to hear that, sire!

F L Zuko: And you know what the weirdest part is? I don't even know how we're related! Are they my Aunts? Or Granddad Azulon's sisters? Or what?? Anyone know?

C of S Shen Ming: I heard they were Ozai's mother's sisters.

Capt. Zindao: Really? I heard they were Azulon's mistresses!

Adm. Gin Sing: Yeah? I heard they were both!

Min. Lu Yan: Can anyone say 'sssscan-dallll'!

(GONG!!!)

Gen. Huang: You know who'd know the truth? Ozai!

F L Zuko: (unrecordable)

Gen. Haang: Sorry, your majesty.

Min. Sen Po: Getting back on some semblance of a topic, and I don't mean to be a killjoy of such a marvelous concept, but...How does your Lordship propose to pay for 'Society Security'?

F L Zuko: The same way we raised money for our defense build-up. We'll withhold the taxes from the people's pay. It's perfect! They'll never even see the money, so they won't complain about missing it!

Jee Manh: What? I thought 'withholding taxes' was a temporary wartime measure?!!

C of S Shen Ming: Yeahhh. Temporary. About that...

(GONG!!!)

F L Zuko: Any other comments?

Min. Lu Yan: We are fam-i-ly! I got all my Fire Nation brothers with me!

Min. Bor Ku: Bor Ku afraid of getting old!

F L Zuko: Good point.

Min. Lu Yan: But not my sister!

Jee Manh: A head tax like that will absolutely kill investment!

Min. Lu Yan: And not my mother or father, aunt or uncle!

(GONG!!!)

Min. Sen Po: You do realize, your Lordship, we're in a 'baby boom' right now, and there are plenty of workers to cover the few retirees we have, but when the boom ends, and the present generation retires, the result will be a demographic nightmare that will bankrupt the system!

F L Zuko: If there any issues, they can be worked on in the fine-tuning. Shen, why don't you take care of that?

C of S Shen Ming: Wha? Me, your majesty? Okay. I'll just...add that to everything else. The airships. The clean lands initiative. The...

F L Zuko: Good man!

Min. Sen Po: I don't suppose we can talk about the state of emergency?

F L Zuko: We'll get to that. Now then, Admiral, what is the status of the Fire Nation Navy?

Adm. Gin Sing: Fully deployed and ready to confront the enemy, sire!

F L Zuko: Excellent! What of our airships?

C of S Shen Ming: Let's see...Ummm...It's here someplace...

Min. Sen Po: Your majesty, there's panic in the streets!

F L Zuko: Later. **SHEN?!**

C of S Shen Ming: Ah! Here it is! All airships are air-worthy and ready to defend the country!

F L Zuko: Wonderful!

C of S Shen Ming: Of course, I had to reach into the high schools to get the manpower needed to staff the airships...

F L Zuko: What was that, Shen?

C of S Shen Ming: Nothing, sire!

Min. Sen Po: With all due respect, Fire Lord Zuko, the people are RIOTING!

Min. Lu Yan: At least they're not revolting!

(GONG!!!)

F L Zuko: There's no reason for the people to riot.

Min. Sen Po: No reason?? An invasion is imminent, ash and smoke choke the skies, cutting off the people's principle means of defense - their fire bending, violent tremors shake the city to its very core, and the Plant Spirit...

F L Zuko: We're not here to discuss the Plant Spirit!

Min. Sen Po: Sire, no one has been more critical of your use of the Plant Spirit than I...

Min. Lu Yan: Really? Who'd have guessed??

(GONG!!!)

Min. Sen Po: ...But eventually, I recognized the finer points of your plan and how the Plant Spirit could help us...However, sire...Planting her in the Central Plaza???

F L Zuko: She likes the fresh air.

(GONG!!!)

Min. Sen Po: Your majesty, her vines grab anyone who walks too close!

F L Zuko: Cornelia's just being friendly.

(GONG!!!)

Min. Xue Lao: Sire, what the Minister of Agriculture says is true! Even my students are scared!

F L Zuko: Your students, and the rest of the people, are being stirred up by that criminal gang, the Third Way! If they weren't so panicky, the Plant Spirit would calm down, also. Captain, how goes your pursuit of the leaders of the gang?

Capt. Zindao: All available personnel are on invasion duty at the moment, of course, but we are closing in! We should have them arrested very soon!

F L Zuko: See? It's all being taken care of! As for the tremors, they're a purely natural occurrence. Nothing to worry about. Moving on...

Min. Sen Po: So **are** we going to discuss the state of emergency?? Observers report the Fire Angel was at the scene of the volcanic eruptions...

F L Zuko: MOVING ON!! Anything else??!

Min. Sen Po: There is that dragon flapping its wings outside the tower's window. But I imagine you don't wish to discuss that, either.

F L Zuko: This meeting is adjourned!

_Next:_

_Invasion, Part 1!_

_Chaos in the Capital!_

_Riots, fires & looting! (Oh my!)_

_Girl plants gone wild!_

_The GAang fights the Home Guard and the people of the Fire Nation!_

_Then the Home Guard fights the people, so the GAang has to save the people!_

_It's nuts!_

_Also:_

_Zoo stampede!_

_The sand bender!_

_Long Feng & the Dai Li!_

_War Dragons!_

_Caleb & Corny!_

_And Irma makes a new friend!_

_Plus:_

_Who is the Hooded Man??_

_And…_

_Irma's bladder vs. the Fire Army!_

_Okay. Not really. But sort of._

_(That's right! It's more potty humor!)_

_Expect plenty of surprises!_

_It's a tale so wild,_

_we had to call it..._

_Panic at the Disco!_

_And after that:_

_Prepare yourself for..._

_The mournful Ballad of Hay Lin_

Notes

Hama first appeared in _Avatar_ Episode 308, "The Puppetmaster".

Admiral Chan was mentioned in both Episode 301, "The Awakening" and Episode 305, "The Beach", and so merits a mention in my story (still no appearance, though).

Yay! A Cabbage Man cameo!

Why 'The Third Way'? I had to call the rebel group something. If Ozai is one way, and Zuko is another, then those opposed to both represent a third version. Also, it could be that fire is the third element in the Avatarverse, and The Third Way believes they're the true acolytes of the Way of Fire (present day, that is. The Sun Warriors represent the Way of Fire of the past). That's what they claim, anyway. In reality, The Third Way are a bunch of power-mad opportunists seeking to capitalize on both Zuko's newly granted freedoms (Ozai would have crushed the Third Wayers like a bug!) and discontent over his rule, and use nationalistic slogans as a cover for their ambitions. Why are people unhappy with Zuko? It could be that he tried to change things too quickly. Then again, he hasn't been totally engaged in the whole 'rule the country' concept. He's had a lot of distractions. Zuko does deserve some credit, though. He knows his beloved Fire Nation HAS to change; he's just a little fuzzy on all of the myriad details (the 'little things'). I believe Zuko has a lot of support among the younger generations (the end of the draft, dance parties, more local control, etc.), but not so much among the older age groups (high taxes, the loss of conquered cities like Omashu, the loss of power among the nobility & military, etc.). Zuko's 'Society Security' pension is a way to gain support among the older citizens.

The 'Fire Ale' bit I shamelessly stole from SCTV's 'Orange Whip'. I'm putting more humor in all of my stories, actually, as I've realized it's the one element that's missing all too often in these fanworks.

The names of the newly introduced characters (General Huang, Ministers Sen Po, Xue Lao, etc.) don't mean anything. I picked them because they sound good.

The jokester Minister of Culture, Lu Yan, I see as a sort of cross between Martin Short and that wacky guy from _Airplane. _

Minister of Education Xue Lao first appeared in "Cornelia's and Taranee's Adventures in the Fire Nation 1: Matchmakers", an extra standalone story set in the time before The Day of Black Sun. It'll be released after the penultimate chapter because it contains a spoiler.

Captain Zindao first appeared in Chapter 5.

Withholding taxes from pay was a 'temporary wartime measure'. During World War II. I guess 'temporary' means something different to government.

The depths of Zuko's self-centeredness is revealed. He crowed at the beginning of Chapter 6 how much he did for the people of the Fire Nation, but at the end of that chapter, and especially in this one, we see he mostly cares for his own selfish, personal goals, the people be damned.


	9. Invasion, Part 1 The Return

**Author's Note: This chapter was becoming so long, I had to split it into four parts. So no Ancient Avatar this time, since I don't have enough AA for each new chapter. Therefore, the tale begins immediately with the long-awaited Invasion of the Fire Nation (Non-Disclaimer Disclaimer: Any similarities with real events is purely on purpose!) With fights galore - private battles of the soul, as well as the butt-kicking physical kind!! **

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

All over the Fire Nation, but especially in the Capital, the Invasion defense plan was put in motion.

Everyone was affected. From the smallest among them...

"Have to check for Invaders' weapons." said the brusque, uncaring member of the island nation's Home Guard as he rooted around in the swaddling clothes.

"But, but that's my baby!" cried the shocked woman.

"The enemies of the Fire Nation will use anything they can against us, ma'am." droned the Guard. "Okay, you're clear. Next?"

...To those in its many meeting places...

"And that was an Earth Kingdom favorite!" announced the crooner. "For my next song..."

"That's enough of that noise!" barked the female soldier, smashing the singer's musical instrument to bits. "Listen up! Evacuation orders have been given. I guess none of you were 'informed ', so consider this your notice! Also, I know some of you have posts to report to, so I strongly suggest you get to them, pronto! There is a war on, you know! So get going!!" she warned, leaving unspoken the 'or else'.

The audience, most of whom were young people out for a good time (and equally desperate to get out of the volcanic ashfall, as well as spend some time away from the 'rents), glared at the oppressive military men and women.

...None were spared the special attention of the Fire Lord's armed forces.

And so the Fire Nation Army, while ostensibly designed to minimize conflict through show of force, nonetheless left behind an angry, terrorized populace wherever they went.

A populace who simply responded in kind.

Chapter 8: Invasion Part 1 - The Return,

Or,

Panic At The Disco

---September 22nd---

---One day before the return of Sozin's Comet---

---10:23AM---

It had been a long journey for the hooded man, but he had finally reached his destination.

Home.

But it wasn't a home he recognized.

In fact, the state he found the Capital City in was...unsettling, to say the least.

Tremors shook the city. Paper and debris blew chaotically in the hot wind. Ash darkened the skies, and when it rained down gave the people choking fits. Plus, 'Third Way' graffiti defaced walls everywhere! ("The Third Way is coming", "The Third Way will restore the glory of our nation", "The Third Way the Power of Fire").

Invasion was in the air and, in response to that and all the other calamities being visited upon them, most of the populace were either fleeing the city or rioting and looting, breaking into homes and shops to steal what they could run away with, setting what little fires they could muster under the abysmal fire bending conditions to evade capture by the shell-shocked inhabitants or besieged police forces.

_Madness! _thought the hooded man. _To think my great city could come to this..._

ooooooooooooooo

Immediately upon entering Fire Nation territorial waters, the Freedom Flotilla of Earth Navy and Water Tribe ships engaged the enemy forces.

With the Invasion force stuck in the water, pinned down by both Fire Navy and military Airship, Aang and the rest of his crew (Katara, Toph, Irma, Hay Lin and Caleb) elected to use the oppressive cloud cover to safely ride Appa to the shores of the mainland Fire Nation, successfully evading the many Airship patrols along the way. They reasoned it was better to 'cut off the head' (depose Fire Lord Zuko) and bring the war to a swift and decisive end, before more people on both sides of the conflict were hurt. Though Master Pakku and the other water benders under his command could have formed personal-sized submarines to reach the Fire Nation unscathed, they decided to stay with the freedom fleet and rescue all those whose boats were sunk in the fierce sea fighting.

Nearing the coast, Aang spotted the still-smoking volcanoes, some of which continued to spew hot ash!

Appa banked in the air to dodge the burning effluvia, and the GAang made their way to the Capital City.

They flew right in and landed. Oddly enough, no one paid them much attention, because the citizens of the Fire Nation had plenty of their own problems to worry about!

The streets were in chaos!

While refugees streamed out of the Capital into what they thought (hoped) was the safer countryside, the remaining inhabitants burned and looted the city!

On approach to the capital, Katara had remarked how eerily similar the ashfall was to the 'black snow' the Water Tribes had experienced before they were invaded, and bitterly said that "Maybe now they know how we felt!"

However, upon seeing just how bad things were in the Fire Nation, Katara almost choked on her words. This was not something she'd wish on anybody!!

Covering his mouth so as not to breathe in the lung-scalding ash, Aang attempted to ask a fleeing bystander what was going on.

And almost got knocked down by the desperate Fire National!

"Run!" he screamed! "She's gone crazy!!"

The group peered in the direction the man had come from, but saw naught but some overgrown weeds lining the sides of the street.

Once they got closer to the unusually tall and thick vegetation, a man called out to them.

"Could it be?? Yes, you are the Avatar, aren't you?" said the man stuck in the lush undergrowth, upon spotting the distinctive arrow tattoo on Aang's forehead. "He said you'd come!"

"Who? Who said I'd come?" asked Aang, as he worked to free the man, who wore a Fire Nation military uniform, from the binding greenery.

"The Fire Lord. Who else?" Lt. Wing answered. Then the rescued man pointed his finger toward the city center, which was around the corner, and said "The one you're looking for is over there!"

It was the same place cries of horror and placid chanting were coming from!

Rounding the bend, our heroes encountered an eerie sight!

Towering plants and trees, some as tall as skyscrapers, with green limbs waving in the breeze that held people!

Underneath the trees lay a vast forest, which was also populated by various persons trapped by a number of vines and shoots!

And the weirdest thing? Some of the people held by the mad vegetation weren't screaming for their life, or upset in the slightest! Instead, they calmly recited prayers to the spirit world.

While many lost souls standing in the street wailed pitifully for loved ones stuck in the cityswamp, an even greater number lined up and, one by one, kneeled before something at the very epicenter of the frantic foliage, gave an offering and waited for a vine to grab them and take them into middle of the verdant urban jungle.

There was _something _there, at the heart of the green insanity, and all of the freedom fighters knew what (who) it was, though they feared to say it aloud.

Racing to still the jackhammer beating of his heart, Caleb hurried to the front of the line!

"Hey! Wait your turn, buddy!" the first in line complained when Caleb tossed him aside. "Whoaaa!"

The boy from Meridian ignored the sycophant's bitching and moaning and turned to the object of everyone's adoration and fear.

"Cornelia!!" Caleb yelled, feeling equal amounts of relief and dread when he spotted his love sleeping in the midst of the giant, grasping garden!

"What the heck happened to her?!!" Irma declared, after she caught up to Caleb and took in Cornelia's predicament, saw her discolored skin and noted Corny appeared attached to the shrubbery, a part of the garden itself!

"I don't know! Oh, Cornelia, wake up!!" Caleb tenderly pleaded as he put his arms around the girl he loved.

"Maybe you should do the princely thing, and kiss her??" Irma half-heartedly suggested. Then she brightened. "Oh, I know! **Wake up, sleepy head!!!**" the Guardian of Water shouted at the top of her lungs at the unconscious Earth Guardian, just as she had frequently done back home in Heatherfield so Cornelia wouldn't be late to school (although Irma had also offered her 'wakeup service' quite a bit on Saturday, allegedly to 'keep Corny's bodyclock running on time', or so she claimed).

"Irma!" the 'Plant Spirit' testily spoke, shocking all of her many followers! "I told you I need my beauty sleep!"

"Um, doesn't look like it's working!" Irma Lair flippantly said, hiding her pain at seeing her friend in such a horrific state.

"Irma? But...where am I...What's..." Cornelia sputtered. Then she opened her eyes and saw...

"Caleb? Is it really you?? Or am I still dreaming?" she hoped/prayed/feared.

"I'm definitely dream material, but Irma's rude awakening sure isn't! We're real, Cornelia!" said Caleb of Meridian, wearing a smile as big as a state of the Union.

"Oh. I...I can't move. I'm stuck." Cornelia Hale sadly declared.

"Good thing I have plenty of practice gardening, then." the son of Nerissa joked, trying hard not to worry Cornelia, her friends or himself.

With Cornelia awake, the large vines stopped grabbing people off the street, and Aang and the others were able to free the rest.

But as for Cornelia?

"I, I'm part of the green now!" she said, explaining her inability to extricate her limbs from the vegetation they were attached to. "They said I was the Plant Spirit! I'm not human anymore, Caleb!" Cornelia cried, the tears watering her roots.

"We'll figure this out! Don't you worry!" an upbeat Caleb promised, not letting his beloved see how concerned he was.

"Who did this to you, Cornelia?" Hay Lin asked.

"Zuko!" the girl who was the Plant Spirit, although not by her own choice, hotly answered.

"You have to stop Zuko! Who knows what other terrible things he's done with the Heart?! Go!! I'll take care of Cornelia!" Caleb commanded.

"But..." Irma gulped, her secret plan to save her friends falling out of her control by the second.

"Come on, Irma!" Aang took the Water Guardian by the arm. "You heard Caleb! We can't do anything for Cornelia right now. Finding Zuko and ending this war is our number one priority!"

Irma took one last look at her friend. Caleb was asking Corny to calm down so she could control her power, and Irma wished with all her heart Will was there with them, that nothing bad had happened to her or Taranee.

Then the Guardian of Water resumed her dark, solitary journey and rejoined (physically, but not mentally or emotionally) the others.

"Hey, uh, a little help here?" begged Lt. Wing around the corner. He had got himself stuck again when he ventured too close to the vines. "Anyone??"

ooooooooooooooo

As the liberators drew closer to the Fire Lord's Palace, in the city known in ancient times as 'Agnidad' (gift of Agni, the god of fire), the chaos in the streets only got worse!

The looting and pillaging and arson was out of control!

It was too much for the police and emergency personnel to handle, so Aang and the rest pitched in. They rescued people from burning buildings, put out fires, and Toph even saved a dozen people from a particularly violent tremor that split open a city street! With all these dire events happening, the GAang tried to calm the populace, but to no avail. When the citizens of the Fire Nation saw the Avatar and his air, water and earth bending friends, they became even more panicky because they knew the Earth Kingdom invasion force was coming!

Some, victims of years of Fire Nation propaganda, even attacked Aang, whom they unjustly blamed for all their troubles!

This shocked the young Avatar, who was used to fighting soldiers, but not the common people!

However, the Fire Nation citizenry weren't trained warriors, so they could barely lay a hand on the quick-moving air bender.

Still, it was a volatile situation, and many people could get hurt if the mad mob wasn't stopped!

"We need crowd control, Hay Lin!" Irma urged her fellow Guardian.

"On it!" Hay Lin responded. "Everybody, stand back! Or your ears are gonna be sorry!" The Guardian of Air used her power over that element to draw all of the native gases, the atmosphere itself, out of the area that held Aang's attackers. A split second before the full effect of the vacuum hit them, the only indication the people had that something was amiss was a popping in their ears. Suddenly bereft of the gas essential to life, oxygen, everyone in a two block radius passed out.

"Wow! Good work, Hay Lin!" Aang complimented his fellow air elemental. "I wish I was as good as you!"

"It's not that hard, Aang!" the modest Hay Lin downplayed her achievement. "When you pull air out of a spot, you have to hold it with your mind, your will. That keeps it from flowing back in. I guess you would say your body itself 'keeps things in balance'!"

"Neat! I'll have to remember that!" Aang cheerily commented.

"Enough air bending talk!" Irma scolded the two. "We have more important things to do!"

ooooooooooooooo

As the Freedom Fighters approached the Old Town neighborhood bordering the Palace complex of buildings (now called the Red Zone, the security area created after the Day of Black Sun Invasion), they found a riot in full swing!

Some burned Fire Lord Zuko in effigy, and many held up banners proclaiming support for something called 'The Third Way'!

Aang and the others had no idea what was going on, so they decided to ignore it.

Suddenly, the Police archers arrived on the scene!

When the GAang saw the archers pull their bows back, they leapt into action!

"Are you crazy??" railed the humane lover of justice, Katara, bending water from her sack into a whip that slashed the archers' arrows in two before they ever launched off their string. "Firing on your own people???"

Aang pitched in, blasting air at the unfriendly archers that scattered the arrows held in their quivers, and Toph followed with an earth wave that wrapped the bowmen up - literally!

Thus saved, the rioters fled before the police could recover and target them again, while Aang, Katara, Toph, Irma and Hay Lin escaped on Appa.

The archers, upon working their way out of Toph's earth 'straitjacket', wanted to retaliate against the fleeing enemies of the Fire Nation, but their leader told them "No. We have orders from the Fire Lord himself not to engage with the Avatar and his friends. Zuko wants them all for himself. And he can have them! We have our own job. Now let's restore order!"

ooooooooooooooo

Moving deeper into the Old Town of the Capital City, home to many soldiers and government workers, which was situated right next to the newly-designated 'Red Zone', the seat of government which included the Palace and all the adjoining buildings, the GAang noticed the security forces working to 'restore order' had already been there! Many people lay on the ground, injured and dying!

"Aang! We have to help them!" the compassionate Katara insisted.

But as Katara was the only healer among the group, it was decided she would stay with the sick patients, while the rest would continue with the mission.

However, as more than a score were injured, Katara had one request.

"Irma! Help me out! You can do triage!" the master water bender implored her fellow water elemental. "The rest of you go! We'll catch up!"

"Wha? Me??? But, but I don't even know what that is!" Irma Lair weakly protested.

Meanwhile, Aang, Toph and Hay Lin hopped on Appa to continue their mission to defeat the Fire Lord.

"Separate those who need immediate help from those who have less severe injuries and...those who are beyond our aid." the kind-hearted, yet realistic, Water Tribe girl explained, while she tended to a man with a broken back by placing her healing hands on him.

"Oh. Well, I guess I can do that." Irma, feeling guilty for her earlier thoughts of skipping out on the GAang, said, as she watched Appa fly away.

Then the Guardian of Water turned to the task at hand, delivering those with the most life-threatening ailments, and who could be most helped by the water bending healer, to Katara.

Seeing all the chaos and destruction in a warzone before the war had even begun (the Earth Kingdom occupying force had yet to land, after all, as they were still out to sea) put Irma in a pensive mood, and she asked "I don't get it, Katara. The invasion hasn't even started yet! So why all the panic and craziness??"

"I think it's because, when a people are ruled by fear, like Fire Lord Ozai did and probably like Zuko does, too", she began, as her water-suffused curative powers flowed into another sick patient, "when a crisis occurs, that's how they respond. With fear. Panic. They don't know any other way."

"Oh." was all Irma had to say to that.

"You can't let fear dictate your actions, Irma. That's no way to live." Katara drove the point home, as she tended to the last of their patients.

Leaving Irma to wonder if she was doing the right thing. Could she really abandon Aang and Katara when they needed her the most? Even if the Guardians needed her, too?? Was she making her choice out of fear...or love? It was a question that, rather disturbingly, didn't seem to have an answer!

Suddenly, a crowd of people filled the street, running for their lives from the Home Guard called in to 'restore order'!

Quickly, Katara absorbed the water from a yaksheep trough and grew liquid tentacles to fight off the maddened military forces!

Irma also, of course, did her part, laying low quite a few of the Guard with her own special brand of 'water bending' in a valiant attempt to defend the innocent citizens of the Fire Nation. Unfortunately, Irma was separated from Katara in the melee and captured!

At the point of a sword, a seemingly triumphant Guard marched Irma to his superior officer stationed at his command post.

"I've got one of the invaders, Captain! A water bender!" he crowed.

It may appear that Irma was in a bad spot but, oddly enough, our favorite Water Guardian didn't mind being a prisoner! She was so drained from the emotional sturm und drang of the past few days (the tension among the freedom fighters was getting thicker than motor oil!), Irma relished the chance to let loose and have a bit of fun with the anal-retentive hotheads!

"Well, well, a water bender, eh? Kind of far from home, aren't you? We'll make sure you have a...hot time!! Ha ha ha ha ha!!" the Guard Captain laughed, joking about the fact that the water tribes lived at the frozen poles.

"That's great! I love going to the beach!" Irma from coastal, temperate Heatherfield smiled, and the Captain almost blew his top at her insolence!

"There won't be any water where you're going, little missy! So there!!" the Captain screamed, jabbing a finger in Irma's face to make his point!

"Are you sure about that, Cap?" Irma chortled, as a stream of water shot out of her back!

Regaining her smart aleck attitude, the most disrespectful Guardian teased the soldiers with her 'where's the water coming from' routine, a classic from her street performing days.

"What the?? She must have water hidden on her! Search her at once!!" the commanding officer ordered!

"But, but I already did! She has no waterskins on her!!" the discombobulated defenseman yelped.

"Then she must have hidden it in the one place you didn't look!!" the crafty Captain surmised.

"I'll go get a matron at once, then!" the frazzled man of the defense forces uttered.

"No need for that!" the Captain declared. "Now pull 'em down or I'll do it for you!" he spat at our heroine.

"Ex-squeeze me? And without at least one date??" Irma joked.

"**Now!!!**" he demanded of the Water Guardian.

"You don't want to do that!" a far more serious Irma Lair spoke.

"I'll give the orders around here, water trash!!" the nasty Captain shouted, bending down to get level with Irma's lower extremities.

Suddenly, a line of water spurt out of the front of Irma's tunic pants and formed a wagging finger that waved 'No no' in the Captain's face!

Then the wet finger jabbed the Captain in the eye!

Finally, the liquid appendage, while still attached by watery link to Irma's under area, morphed into a hand that delivered a severe spanking to the Captain's bottom, sending him flying into a supply cart and knocking him unconscious!

The soldier who brought Irma in was stunned!

"Wait. That's your...ew!!!" He was so disgusted he almost barfed!

"Well? You want a piece of this, slick??" Irma challenged the queasy corpsman, waving her 'pee hand' in front of her!.

The Guard knew about water benders, but had never heard of any that could do what this girl did! His response? He ran away!

(Although, in truth, it really was pure water. Irma just loved the psychological effect of pee water from the pants!)

Returning to the street, Irma had a hard time locating Katara, what with all the people running around trying to find someplace safe and avoid the police and military sweeps of the area.

The injured, though, were not so hard to find.

Nearly stumbling over a young girl in the street, Irma realized she was terribly wounded, and needed immediate assistance or else...that would be all she wrote.

"Katara!!" Irma yelled, over and over, ever more frantic with each utterance of her friend's name!

Meanwhile, the Guardian of Water could feel the gray-eyed youngster slipping away with every moment that passed bereft of the special healing abilities of the South Pole water bender.

Irma got so upset, sweat poured from her glands, and coated her hands, even her fingers. The fingers that held the unfortunate girl.

"Katara! Help!!" Irma pleaded. War was no place for children, and right now it was getting way too upclose and personal for the suburban girl from Heatherfield!

Irma had never felt more helpless!

But just then, the barely out of her preteens child got up, looked at Irma briefly, and ran off!

"Huh. I guess she wasn't hurt that bad, after all!" the relieved Water Guardian gasped.

"Irma?? There you are! Thank the Spirits!" Katara said, her relief at finding her friend unharmed almost as great as Irma's own. "I was so worried! Are you okay?" she inquired, as she hugged her sister elemental.

"Okay??" Irma considered the question for a moment. "Yeah. I'm fine. Better, even." she said, a happy grin on her face. Though their journey still held many challenges, Irma never felt more confident, more ready to take them on, come what may. It was as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "Let's go find Aang, Toph and Hay Lin!"

ooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, Aang & Co. didn't get far because they ran into another developing crisis.

From the air, the Avatar and Hay Lin saw people running away from a stampede of animals!

Hippocows. Elegiraffes. Tigerdillos. Rabbiroos. Woolly Mandrills. Poodle Monkeys. And Flying Bat Snakes!

To name but a few.

Somehow, on top of all the other madness that had descended upon the Capital, the inhabitants of the Royal Zoo in Old Town had escaped their enclosures. The creatures weren't all that fond of the constant downpour of nostril-clogging, throat-scorching hot ash nor the occasional fire bender trying to burn them in a vain attempt to halt their relentless march, and so were running wild through the streets!

The frantic cityfolk were managing to avoid being trampled _at the moment, _but from their high perch the two air elementals could see that the crazed herd was headed straight for a crowd of people, and no way could all those hapless citizens get out of the way in time!

Flying the oversized Appa directly into the center of the out of control animals, Aang split the herd into two groups that went down opposite, and much less populated, side streets, sparing the citizens of the Fire Nation from becoming so much roadkill!

Then Aang soared on his staff to the front of one of the smaller herds, and Hay Lin carried the blind Toph to the head of the other band of wild things.

Aang landed catlike, on his feet, before the thundering hooves while Hay Lin gently dropped Toph back onto her element ahead of the oncoming pack.

Immediately, both earth benders stamped their feet onto the ground and the planet's surface responded, heaving up earthen walls that surrounded and contained the berserk beasts!

Building a towering, rocky structure inside of both instant enclosures, with separate compartments for each animal, Aang and Toph created animal 'condo buildings', with a view that the human denizens of Old Town usually had to pay a pretty gold piece for!

Inspecting his work, and making sure the innocent creatures were okay, Aang ran into a young Lion-Turtle (young for lion-turtles, that is. It was only a few hundred years old; thus, its small size of three feet long).

The Avatar greeted the regal beast with a hearty "Wow! A lion-turtle! I haven't seen one of you guys in a long time! How you doing, little fella?"

And then...the animal talked back!

"The true mind can weather all lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can touch the poison of hatred without being harmed. From beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light." the wise Lion-Turtle said.

"What the?! You can talk???" Aang gasped.

"Listen to him, Aang! You're in grave danger, and it's vital you survive." Appa spoke.

"Appa??" Aang sputtered. "You can talk, too??"

"He isn't the only one!" Momo interjected. "You're in a lot of trouble, kiddo! Remember what he tells you. "

"Momo?" Aang was really freaked now! But he did as he was told, and listened to what the Lion-Turtle said.

At the conclusion of the ancient being's message, someone had a question.

Momo!

"Can I have that custard tart in your pocket?" the sly flying lemur asked.

"Snort!" an annoyed Appa retorted.

"What? If the kid is destroyed, he won't need it!" Momo reasoned.

Though Aang didn't understand what was happening, he felt oddly comforted.

Then he heard a voice...

_Aang?_

And everything went back to normal.

"Aang? Are you okay?? You were just standing there, all zoned out or something!" a concerned Hay Lin asked.

"Huh??" Aang looked around. There was no Lion-Turtle present, and neither Appa nor Momo were talking. Appa stood silently, and Momo licked his paws.

"I'm okay, Hay Lin!" Aang assured her. "Just meditating!" he smiled.

"Wow, twinkletoes!" Toph commented. "You're the only one I know who can meditate in a warzone!"

"It's a gift." Aang replied, as he fed Momo the custard tart he kept in his pocket. The winged lemur eagerly scarfed down the juicy treat! "Now let's complete our mission!"

ooooooooooooooo

The Imperial Palace complex, the Red Zone, was on lockdown. It was literally an armed camp, full of dangerous fire benders and military. No one could get in or out without great risk to their lives!

The skies, full of explosive blasts from the fire cannons below, had become too unsafe for such a huge target as Appa, so Aang set him down outside the front gates of the Red Zone. Aang bent Appa an earth shelter, and told him to stay until he got the signal, the ear-piercing sound from Aang's bison whistle that only the sky beast could hear.

Proceeding to the entrance to the Palace area, Aang, Toph and Hay Lin were stopped by one person.

"Halt!" the man dressed in an oddly-colored (tan) Fire Nation military uniform declared. "I have sworn an oath to my new Lord that none shall pass."

"Oh? Well, in that case, we'll just go over you!" Aang, pleased at his clever solution, said as he gave a little wave of his hand. "Bye!"

Aang and Hay Lin took to the air, Aang using his glider and Hay Hay her natural Air Guardian ability, while Toph attempted to follow on a column of rock.

Then the man, who was a sand bender, whipped a dust devil (a swirling vortex of sand) at the earth bender. Toph, unable to sense the sand attack, was knocked off her rocky support and fell to the ground. Except it wasn't normal ground. It was a sandpit!

"I may not be able to stop those two..." the desert denizen said, "...but you are a different story!"

"Toph?" Aang, from a lofty perch beyond the gate, asked. "Do you need help?"

"No." Toph got up and waved off the Avatar. "I'm okay! I'll be right along as soon as I take care of this guy!"

"But...He's a sand bender!" a concerned Aang said, recalling all the difficulty Toph had with sand bending.

"Doesn't matter. " Toph said, cracking her knuckles. "Nothing will stop me from confronting the person responsible for Sokka's death!"

Hearing the determination in the Earth Kingdom girl's voice, Aang and Hay Lin soared off to confront Fire Lord Zuko.

ooooooooooooooo

Without their earth-bound companion to watch out for, Aang and Hay Lin kept to the skies in their search for the Fire Lord. As stealthily as they could, they flew right next to buildings so no one could spot them.

Nearing an open window with military officers inside, Aang landed on the outside ledge while Hay Lin hovered on the opposite side of the ventilating portal.

Hidden there, they overheard the officers' terrible plan to 'control the populace'!

"We'll unleash the War Dragons!! That will show those fools who dare oppose us! Ha ha ha ha!" gloated the cruel Captain.

"Uh oh! That doesn't sound good!" Hay Lin cried. She knew that, even if the dragons were targeted at the crowds of protesters and the others rampaging through the streets, innocents would undoubtedly be caught up in the carnage, as giant, fire-spewing lizards are not known for being highly discriminating creatures.

"And you have authority from Fire Lord Zuko for this?" asked one of the other Fire Nation officers.

"Of course!" replied Captain of the Guard Zindao. "In fact, it's his plan!"

"Zuko's even more far gone than we thought!" Aang said in worried, whispered tones. "To attack his own people with dragons??"

With the word given, the dragons were soon released from their pen below.

As the dread fire-breathers ascended into the sky, Hay Lin said "We can't let Zuko sic those dragons on the innocent citizens of the Fire Nation, Aang! I'll stop them! You get Zuko!"

"But all by yourself??" Aang gasped.

"Don't worry! I'll have Momo to help me! Come on, Momo!" Hay Lin urged the reluctant air lemur.

Momo was busy polishing off the last of the custard tart when Hay Lin scooped him up and took him into the air with her. Then he unfurled his bat-like wings and glided beside the girl from Heatherfield.

Leaving Aang to face the Fire Lord all alone.

ooooooooooooooo

As Aang sailed on his glider towards the Palace, below him, a manhole shook, then shot up into the air, pushed by a raging torrent of water!

Then two people rode the underground waves to the surface - Katara and Irma!!

"Guys! I'm so glad to see you!!" Aang yelled at his two boon companions as he rushed to give them a hug!. "I was beginning to think I'd have to do this all by myself!"

"Why? What happened to Toph and Hay Lin, Aang?" Katara inquired.

"Didn't you see Toph on the way in?" a puzzled Aang asked. "She stayed behind at the Palace entrance to face a sand bender!"

"No. There was too much security at the front gate. So we took a different route to get here." the Southern Water Tribe girl responded.

"Don't tell me...Not another sewer??" Aang said, making a disgusted face.

"Why not? With our combined water powers, we didn't get splashed with even a drop of that dirty, disgusting sewerwater!!" Irma Lair bragged, speaking of the duo's ability to create hollow spheres of water to travel in.

"Then what's that?" Aang said, pointing to a wet spot on Irma's clothes.

"Wha?? Nothing! Sweat?" Irma weakly offered. Though the Water Guardian felt an inner peace she hadn't experienced in months, there was still much that worried her, such as the war and the uncertain fate of her friends. "So, where's Hay Lin?" she asked.

"Hay Lin had to fight some dragons." Aang answered, as if it was an everyday occurrence.

"Well, sure, we all have personal demons to face, but what really happened to her?" Irma inquired yet again.

"No, she really did have to fight dragons! Fire-breathing, flying dragons!" Aang made clear to all assembled. "Zuko let 'em loose to go after rioters!"

"Oh." Irma was stunned! Little Hay Hay, against dragons?!!

"Don't worry! Momo's helping her! Plus, Hay Lin has all those awesome air abilities, like turning invisible! She'll be fine!" Aang put on a brave face, but even Katara could tell Hay Lin's predicament bothered him. The natural concern of a friend? Or was it something more?? "We have the most important mission of all - to stop the Fire Lord!!" Aang laid out the facts, which none could deny.

"Oh. Okay." Irma blurted out, barely aware of what she was saying. Instead, she thought of the missing Will and Taranee. The plant-like Cornelia. And now Hay Lin takes off to fight dragons??

"Irma?" Katara fretted. "Are you okay??"

Regaining her composure, and her lost smile, Irma replied "Hmm? Oh, sure, Katara! Hay Lin's a big girl! Heck, tackling dragons is par for the course for us Guardians!"

_Besides, _Irma thought to herself, _Stuck down here as I am, without my wings, I can't really help her! You're on your own, Hay Hay!_

Continuing her front of false courage, Irma said to the water bender "One time, Corny's sister created a giant dragon and turned all us Guardians doll-size! We had to fight it while teeny-tiny! So this is nothing!"

"Doll-size?? Really???" Katara laughed. "You Guardians have the craziest adventures, Irma!"

ooooooooooooooo

Dodging the occasional Fire Patrol (the GAang was real lucky most of the Fire Nation forces were on invasion duty!), our heroes advanced towards their goal. However, upon approaching the cold, dark heart at the center of the steamy Fire Nation's seat of government, Aang and the others noticed the Fire Lord's Palace was a partial ruin!

"What do you think happened here??" Katara wondered.

"I don't know." Aang replied. "The Generals would have told me if they had sent a strike force ahead of us."

"I think this means Zuko has way more problems than anyone knows about!" Irma speculated.

"Maybe. But shhh!" Aang said, lifting his forefinger to his mouth and pursing his lips.

Creeping in on silent feet, Aang, Katara and Irma thought they had succeeded in gaining entrance to the half-destroyed Palace of the Fire Lord unseen.

But, no such luck!

"That will be far enough, Avatar!" the commanding voice said. Then the green-garbed man held up his hand, and all around the large room, used for gatherings or the occasional Agni Kai, masked men popped up. "Because of you, I lost my position as the Earth King's adviser and my honor. Therefore, I must battle you to regain it, and the Fire Lord has graciously offered me this chance!"

"Um, excuse me, but who are you, anyway?" a befuddled Aang honestly asked.

The man didn't respond, except to get even more angry!

"He's that Long Feng guy! You now, from Ba Sing Se?" Irma pointed out.

"Correct! And I challenge you to a duel in this room often used as an arena, Avatar!" Long Feng bellowed.

"I don't have time for this! I have to stop the Fire Lord!!" an annoyed Aang yelped.

"Whether you face me or not, the Fire Lord has promised me governorship of the Colonies once the Fire Nation citizens are re-settled." Long Feng revealed. "And with that as a base, I and my Dai Li can go on to conquer the rest of the Earth Kingdom, including Ba Sing Se!!" he sneered.

"What??!" Aang was livid! "How can Zuko put you in power in the Earth Kingdom? It'll lead to a civil war!"

"Do you honestly believe the Fire Lord cares one whit about internal Earth Kingdom squabbles?" Long Feng offered his own special insight into the Fire Lord's purported view of international relations. "In fact, his words on the subject were 'The Earth Kingdom's conflicts are their own to resolve'!"

"Okay, then..!" Aang prepared to get into his bending stance. "If it's the only way..."

But the Avatar was stopped!

By Irma!!

"Forget him, Aang!" Irma shouted. "I'll accept this guy's challenge and deal with them for you! I owe Long Feng and his goons payback after what they did to Will and Taranee!!"

"But..." Aang was unsure how Irma hoped to accomplish her goal. Sure, she had special water bending abilities, even some that Katara didn't have, but _still_...

However, the Water Guardian was insistent!

"Go!" Irma urged Aang and Katara. "You have to stop Zuko!"

"Irma, you know what he's doing, don't you?" Katara pointed out. "Zuko's separating us! Or, at the very least, trying to tire us out!"

"Yeah, well, it ain't gonna work! You go on ahead and start kicking Zuko's butt for me! My foot will be right behind you!" Irma confidently declared.

"But, how will you stop the earth benders??" the worried water bender asked.

"Geez, Katara! Give me some credit, huh? Compared to Phobos and his monster crew, these guys are nothing!" Irma blustered. "Now you two, get out of here!" she exclaimed, shooing her friends away.

Bowing to their duty to defeat the Fire Lord, Aang and Katara reluctantly exited the Arena.

"So...You're with those odd benders that attacked Ba Sing Se, eh?" Long Feng stated. "I've eagerly awaited the opportunity to avenge myself of those two miserable brats!"

"Yeah? Well, not gonna happen, pal!" Irma vowed, the insult of her friends making her more determined than ever!

"Oh, really?" Long Feng jeered. "And how do you propose to stop me, little girl?"

Upon his silent command, the Dai Li rose up, surrounding Irma on three sides. Then, they waved their arms, and a crack developed in the ground. The crack in the earth grew wider and bigger, then suddenly vines crept out of the crack, followed by huge, grasping plants!

"O-kay." Irma admitted. "Wasn't expecting that!"

ooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, Toph got into her earth bending stance and confronted the sand bender.

"What the heck's your problem, buddy? And why is a sand bender working for the Fire Lord?? Traitor, much?" she asked, in her most irritating, Toph-like manner.

"If you must know..." began the sand bender known as Ghashuin. "This is all the fault of your friend, the Avatar! Because of him, I was accused of the theft of his air bison and kicked out of my tribe!"

"Aw, poor baby!" Toph sarcastically replied. "Except, you really did steal Appa! I recognize your voice! You're the guy that took him outside of the library!"

"Ah. Then you shall not merely fail to pass. You will fall before me, just as you did then!" Ghashuin declared.

ooooooooooooooo

Flying through the air, Hay Lin finally caught up to one of the dragons.

Turning to the winged lemur at her side, she said "Momo, you go distract the dragon by flying around him. Then I'll sneak up on him while invisible, and create a tornado that'll knock him out! Okay?"

But the air lemur wildly gesticulated his limbs, and began frantically cooing "Chrk! Chrkk!"

"What? What is it, Momo??" Hay Lin asked. "Do you see something?"

Then Hay Hay turned around.

And got hot breath all over her!

It was a dragon!

"Uh oh." Hay Lin uttered, as the great beast snorted fire out its nostrils!

ooooooooooooooo

Ascending to the upper levels of the Fire Lord's Palace (the part that wasn't wrecked), Aang and Katara walked down the darkened hallway with it's curiously torn, ruined family portraits still hanging on the walls.

Then they spotted a lone figure standing in the shadowy doorway of the royal bedchamber.

Realizing that only a member of royalty would be there in a time of war (the servants having long been dismissed), Aang nervously inquired "…Zuko? Is that you?"

Stepping into the light, the features of the person's face became more defined, but this provided no relief for the Avatar or his Water Tribe companion.

"Oh, come now! We may look a little alike, but how can you mistake him for **me**??" the mystery figure announced, a sneer forming at her lips.

"Azula!!" Aang shouted.

ooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, in the midst of another riot in the city, the people of the Fire Nation and the police forces stopped fighting for a moment and looked up, pointing at the streak of red that blazed through the overcast, muddy afternoon sky, cutting a fiery path through the all-encompassing cloudcover.

Everyone on the ground believed either their deliverance had arrived, or their doom.

_Oh no!_

_Cliffhangers!_

_Aang & Katara confront Azula!_

_Toph vs. the sand bender!_

_Hay Lin vs. the War Dragons!_

_Irma vs. Long Feng and the Dai Li!_

_Who's the flyer made of fire? Zuko? Or Taranee??_

_And what happened to Cornelia???_

_For the answers to these and other questions you must read what happens..._

_Next:_

_Invasion, Part 2!_

_In a special installment, besides all the awesome battles, we delve into the journey of Hay Lin._

_The bubbly, perky Air Guardian and would-be fashion designer always looked on the bright side of things,_

_always kept a song in her heart,_

_always thought the best of people._

_Then she went to the Avatar's world, and nothing would be the same ever again._

_In our next chapter,_

_Hay Lin faces the dragons and,_

_even more important, herself,_

_when she reminisces on the events of the past few months_

_and all of the ways her life has changed._

_Then, an event so shocking occurs _

_that people will be talking about it for years to come!_

_You must not miss…The Ballad of Hay Lin!_

_You'll hate yourself if you do!_

_With..._

_The best darn Momo scene ever!_

_Find out what Toph and Sokka did for fun!_

_An untold Guardian adventure featuring Eric! (Hay Lin's boytoy!)_

_And yes, Azula features prominently in the action, too! Heh heh._

_Then, before you can recover from that bombshell,_

_it's on to Invasion, Part 3!_

_Zuko Uber Alles!_

_Can __anyone__ stop this guy???_

_Find out!_

Notes

The 'return' of what? (Or who?) The title has multiple meanings

If this was a TV episode, you would have recognized a character in the 'disco' scene crowd at the beginning as someone who has appeared in another 'show' (story). And that's all I'll say about that!

The seat of the Fire Nation's government is called the 'Red Zone'? Gee, I wonder what **that's** in reference to? (and if you don't know, shame on you!)

I'm not sure if I'm crossing a line with the 'pee hand' bit. I don't think I am, because it's more suggestive than graphic. But you know what I hate? That I have to include lines like 'said the water bender from the adjoining tent'. Because if I don't, someone will think Aang and Katara are sleeping together!! Arghhh! This is NOT that type of story! I am trying to follow the 'rules' here, you know. Sure, the 'What If' format is more liberal in what you can do (major character death being the biggie), but the characters HAVE to be the same beings they are in the source material (nothing Out Of Character), or it doesn't work.

Caleb's meteor was supposed to land near Cornelia, who would then have used the hourglass (the Breath of Time) to restore him to his rightful age. But things went awry, and Cal's meteor instead was attracted to Toph because her great earth bending ability was so close to the plant power of the Swamp. The Oracle's magic, a bit on the fritz after violently passing through the Veil, thought the concentration of earth and plant bending was Cornelia. So this reunion has been long in coming!

Hay Lin doesn't create a complete vacuum when she 'vacuum bends', or else peoples' lungs would collapse (among other nasty effects). She just lowers the air pressure enough that people pass out from lack of oxygen.

A giant Lion-Turtle (with an island on its back) gave Aang the same advice in the Sozin's Comet two-hour finale of _Avatar_ that he receives from the zoo's lion-turtle while 'meditating' in this tale. Aang vanished when he meditated in the episode, and it's theorized he traveled to another world, because the Shirsu couldn't track him. (The talking animals is an homage to the _Nightmares and Daydreams _episode). In my story, it's possible Aang communicated telepathically with the lion-turtle while meditating, and his subconscious mind put words in Appa's and Momo's mouths in an attempt to make sense of what was happening. The wise turtle is another similarity with W.I.T.C.H. In issue 42 of the W.I.T.C.H. comic, Yan Lin posed as a giant sea turtle and gave advice to the Oracle.

Doll-size Guardians fought a giant dragon in the W.I.T.C.H. Season 2 episode "U is for Undivided".

Will and Taranee came up against the power-mad Long Feng and his Dai Li in _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar, _most notably Chapters 12 and 19.


	10. Invasion Part 2 The Ballad of Hay Lin

**Author's Note: The Ancient Avatar doesn't appear in his segment in this chapter. Instead, you get to meet someone new! Then, in the present day, it's Invasion, Part 2 - the climax of the previous chapter's cliffhangers, but mostly the gut-wrenching Ballad of Hay Lin!**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

A Long Time Ago...

_The teen-aged boy, Taro, didn't mind working for the Avatar (But he did mind cleaning the stable of Peachie the air bison! What did the Avatar feed that six-legged beast that could produce such foul feces??) Though the Avatar was considered a supreme jerk by most, he always treated Taro with respect. Well, except for the name-calling. And shorting him on his pay. And he thought he saw the Avatar bend the wind that knocked him over that one time (and that theory would go a long way towards explaining all of the accidents Taro had over the years). But at least the Avatar would talk to him! Unlike the rest of the townspeople._

_The people of the town considered his father a joke, because he was always praising the Avatar. Even Taro's mom had been affected. She couldn't take his father's sycophantic devotion to a man not worthy of it, nor the town's cold shoulder. Fed up years ago, she gave his sire an ultimatum: "The Avatar or me." He chose the Avatar, and she walked out of their lives forever._

_So Taro's name, which is only given to a first son, was twisted by the other children to Takaro, similar to the feminine Takara, which means 'treasure'. That is, instead of being the first of a long line of children, like other families in town, Taro was 'special', a treasure, because he was the only offspring of his family._

_So when any did deign to speak to Taro, they called him 'Takaro', and rather casually threw his family situation in his face!_

_Taro chafed at the treatment, but his father was unyielding in his views._

_"Father, why do I have to work for the Avatar? You know what he is like!" Taro asked him one day._

_"Did I ever tell you how the Avatar saved our town?" his father replied._

_"Yes. Many times!" Taro indignantly shot back._

_"Then be grateful for what you have, Taro!" his father scolded him. "The Avatar is different from you and I, but he is still a great man, deserving of respect. And someday..." Taro's father lifted his son's chin, and looked him in the eye. "..Someday you will be a great man, too! I can feel it!"_

Yeah, great! _Taro thought disdainfully to himself after his father left the Avatar's air bison stable, leaving Taro to his horrid tasks. _Too bad all I can feel is Peachie's shi-

_**CRASH**_

_Went the sky bison, making a huge hole in the wall before falling in the hay!_

_"Holy crap!" Taro yelled. "Peachie, are you OK?"_

_Though the animal was in distress, he was physically unharmed. _

_"Oh no! Something must have happened to the Avatar!" Taro surmised. "Peachie, can you lead me to him?"_

Chapter 9: Invasion Part 2 - The Ballad of Hay Lin

Or,

What's Love Got to Do With It

Flying.

Hay Lin loved flying.

Soaring high above everything. Her home. Her school. The city of Heatherfield. Her problems.

The sheer exhilaration of flight. The joy. The freedom!

With naught but the wind in her face, a hot breeze that smelled of...sulphur??

Hay Lin opened her eyes. It was the dragon!

He had found her!

Again!

_Crap! _she thought.

Quickly executing a roll, Hay Lin prayed she could lose the winged beast! All she had to do, she reasoned, was duck through the empty tower just ahead, then turn invisible and exit the other side totally unnoticed!

Feeling the heat of the dragon's flames on her feet, Hay Lin thought _Darn! For such a huge thing, he sure is fast! This is gonna be close..._

ooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, at the front gate to the Red Zone (Palace complex), a standoff in the sand.

In the dark, volcanic grit of the Fire Nation, at opposite ends of a sandpit, stood two benders from the Earth Kingdom.

Ghashuin, formerly of the sand people.

And Toph!

The master earth bender made the first move, spraying sand in Ghashuin's face to make him as blind as she, and in the process remove any advantage he had over her.

But Ghashuin countered the move perfectly, blocking the sand shower with a curtain of silicon of his own making.

The two sand benders were too evenly matched.

So each waited for the other to make the next move, and first mistake.

ooooooooooooooo

Hay Lin had evaded the dragons, but now she'd lost track of Momo!

Momo. She never had a pet before. It wasn't 'allowed'.

_And what will the health department say when they find it running around the restaurant, Hay Lin? _her mother had said.

_But I'll take care of it, mama! _Hay Lin had promised. _It won't be any trouble!_

To no avail.

Her pleas fell on deaf ears.

And now Momo was in danger!

Hay Lin was damned if she was going to let anything harm him! (But please excuse the language.)

ooooooooooooooo

In the Agni Kai arena of the Fire Lord Palace, one lone girl faced a small army of earth benders.

(Who were also, insane as it sounds, plant benders!!)

_Yet another obstacle!_ thought Irma Lair. _But they're not gonna stop me from kicking Zuko's butt and helping my friends!!_

"Did you feel those tremors earlier?" the leader of the earth benders, Long Feng, said in an attempt to psych Irma out. "That was my men...practicing their bending. We received quite a boost from the Fire Lord and his 'Plant Spirit'! As you can see..." He motioned to the giant plants his Dai Li had raised from the soil below the Palace.

_Corny did this?? _Irma wondered, then made light of it. _Girl's got a lot 'splainin' to do!!_

"So your powers include, what? Causing tummyaches?" Irma wisecracked.

"I will derive much pleasure from stilling that insolent tongue!" snapped the very annoyed former adviser to the Earth King. "Then I and my Dai Li earth bending legion will assume our rightful place at the head of the Earth Kingdom!"

"Ooo, is that supposed to be scary? Newsflash: Not happening!" the mega-confident Miss Lair exclaimed.

The same Irma who was practically surrounded by Long Feng's Dai Li!

"Enough! You cannot hope to overcome us!!" Long Feng barked. "Dai Li! Get her!!"

"Dai Li??" Irma joked. "You're gonna attack me with surrealism?" she said, referring to the artist she learned about in school, Salvador Dali.

But the ninja-like earth bending assassins were in no mood for quips.

Immediately, all manner of bent rock, earth and plant made a beeline for the water bender from another world!

As fast as thought, the Water Guardian of Infinity threw up a water shield that blocked most of the earthen attack! The few items that got through, Irma split with a water whip!

"Maybe I'm not gonna be as easy to beat as you thought, huh, slick?" Irma, untouched and unbowed, crowed.

"A water bender, eh? But not even a master water bender could stand against our might!" Long Feng declared. The Dai Li moved in closer. There would be no escape for Irma! "Concede defeat now, and I'll allow you to live under our rule!"

ooooooooooooooo

Hay Lin's search for Momo and the Dragons took her to the outer edge of the Royal Palace complex of buildings (the Red Zone), where she noticed something familiar.

On a nearby mountaintop was a structure that could only be one thing.

With a start, Hay Lin realized she had seen it before, during the eclipse invasion, but at that time it was only half-finished, so it didn't register in her brain as a celestial watchtower.

"It's an observatory!" she cried. "Like, like the one I saw in that big owl's library! And like the one Eric's parents work at!"

Eric.

Unbidden, Hay Hay's mind raced back to the last time she saw her boyfriend.

It was only a few short months ago, but it felt like a lifetime!

_The Guardians were summoned to Meridian for a mission against the incorrigible bunch that first worked for Phobos, and then Nerissa. They were up to more bad nastyness, so Cornelia used the Breath of Time (a magic hourglass) to stop time in Heatherfield while the girls traveled to the other-dimensional world. The hourglass, a gift from the new Oracle, Endarno (who later turned out to be Phobos, and the real Endarno was his prisoner, but that's another story!), enabled the Guardians to do their duty for Candracar without messing up their lives on Earth. With time halted, no one would miss them! _

_However, Hay Lin had a serious problem!_

_"Meridian, again?!! But what about my school fashion show project? How will I work on that?! This is a disaster!" Hay Lin moaned._

_"Maybe...We can do both!" Cornelia slyly suggested._

_"Really? But how??" a curious Hay Lin inquired. To her mind, a solution was inconceivable! The project was due very soon, and she had asked the girls over for help in producing the sketches and samples, but had a total brain freeze! Hay Lin had no ideas!_

_"After we finish our mission in Meridian, we'll tell Elyon we're sticking around to 'keep an eye on things'!" Cornelia said with a wink. "To pass the time there, we can help you with your fashion project!"_

_"You'd do that? For me??" Hay Lin gushed._

_"Sure, Hay Hay! No problem!" Corny reiterated her friendly gesture of support._

_"But what about..." a pessimistic Hay Lin thought of the Oracle's reaction to using their magic powers for personal gain, although this seemed like small stuff._

_"Hey, if you won't tell the Oracle, we won't!" Irma laughed._

_"Yap!" Hay Lin shouted in glee._

_Everything was going so well._

_So of course, it all went to hell!_

_Not the mission to Meridian. That went off without a hitch._

_And not Hay Lin's clothing designs. With all the time they had on Meridian to work on it, they came out divine!_

_No, it was when they came back and found..._

_...Their enemies waiting for them!_

_A trap!!_

_But...That should have been impossible! Time didn't move while they were off-world!_

_Plus, they had left their foes imprisoned on Meridian!_

_However, Frost, Tracker and Miranda had found a way around both problems!_

_They had tapped into the power of a strange star (Frost called it a 'dark star')._

_And that wasn't the worst part!_

_No, being ambushed was typical for the Guardians of Infinity. _

_What made this latest tussle so hard to swallow was the circumstances._

_Frost used the telescopes in the Heatherfield Observatory to draw on the power of this bizarre star._

_And guess who just happened to be visiting his parents who operated the astronomical facility at the time the creatures from Meridian commandeered it?_

_Eric!_

_Hay Lin's boyfriend!_

_However, though the Meridian maniacs had the advantage of surprise, and hostages, they were no match for five ticked off super-powered elemental teen girls! (Seriously, who is??)_

_Though strong of body, once Hay Lin saw her beloved bound and gagged, her heart sank._

_She longed to be near Eric, to comfort him._

This is all my fault! _Hay Lin thought. _If they hurt Eric...

_She had to do something!_

_Ignoring her friend's cautious entreaties, "Hay Lin, wait! Time is still moving in the observatory! If I can't figure out some way to get the Breath of Time to cancel out this 'dark star' effect, if Eric sees you, he'll remember what happened here!", Hay Lin, undaunted, forged ahead._

_"Then he won't see me!" a determined Hay Lin spat back._

_Turning invisible, the anxious Hay Lin knelt beside her paramour and examined him for any signs of injury._

_Her presence did not go unnoticed!_

_"Hay Lin? Is that you??" Eric gasped._

_"Wha??" cried the stunned Hay Hay! "How did you know it was me??!"_

_"I'd know you anywhere, Hay Lin!" the boy with the sweet soul answered rather matter-of-factly._

_Removing his blindfold, the now visible Hay Lin smiled and said "Yes. You would, wouldn't you?"_

_"Hay Lin?" Eric was taken aback by his girlfriend's strange, winged attire. And then there was the odd look in her eyes. A look of...joy? Of secret knowledge?? What???_

_His unasked question was answered when Hay Lin leaned in and planted a long, soulful kiss on him, which he, still partially restrained, did his best to return!_

_"Geez!" Irma joked. "Get a room, you two! Or maybe another dimension!"_

_Satisfied (I mean REALLY satisfied!) that Eric was okay, Hay Lin rejoined her Guardian sisters and Cornelia announced she could turn time back in the observatory so it could then be in synch with the rest of Heatherfield when Corny re-started time. _

_"You do realize Eric's not going to remember any of this, don't you?" the Earth Guardian asked._

_"That's okay." a happy Hay Lin responded, her mind floating in the clouds. "Because I will."_

Hay Lin and her friends Will, Irma, Taranee and Cornelia, whether at home, school or their 'work' for Candracar as the Guardians, had regularly supported each other and made the impossible possible. No matter what happened, they had always gotten through it together!

And now? With most of her friends missing or incapacitated, trapped in a war with a militaristic nation led by a man with the most powerful magical item in existence, compelled to fight dragons and who knows what else?

Hay Lin, hovering high above the Red Zone, gazed at her reflection in the window glass of the tower.

Though her hair had mostly grown in since her Avatar (bald) 'makeover', it would be a long time before she'd regain her familiar pigtails.

_Would Eric would even recognize me anymore? _Hay Lin wondered, hoping (no, PRAYING) she was only referring to her appearance.

Suddenly, there was movement in the mirror-like glass!

Wheeling around in midair, Hay Lin saw it was one of the dragons!

Hoping it didn't spot her, the Air Guardian quickly vanished from sight and zipped straight up, out of the creature's flight path.

Seeing the dragon was in position, and realizing she'd never get a better opportunity, Hay Lin whipped up a whirlwind and sent it barreling into the skying scorcher!

The two ton beast careened out of control and pancaked onto the roof of a building, knocking it out!

"Alright! I got it!" an exuberant Hay Lin exclaimed. Then, considering how lucky she was, Hay Hay came back down to earth, gulped and sarcastically remarked "Great! Only two more to go!"

And she never once thought _Why would Zuko need an observatory?_

ooooooooooooooo

Aang and Katara stood in the upstairs area of the half-ruined Palace of the Fire Lord.

And they weren't alone!

"What do you want, Azula?!" a stern Aang bellowed.

"My brother is horribly unbalanced. The evidence is all around you!" she said, not bothering to answer the question. Instead, she directed the duo's attention to the trashed state of the royal living quarters. The scorch marks everywhere. The crumbling walls. The missing roof. Etc.

"You mean...Zuko wrecked his own Palace?!?" the incredulous Katara said.

"Yes. Besides other things..." Azula replied, fingering the torn portrait of Zuko and Mai that drooped close to the floor. She struggled to hide her glee at ruining her hated sibling's love life, lest her newly-sought allies thought better than to join her in her quest.

"But, why would he..." Aang began his obvious question.

"Look at the destruction! Who else has the power to do that??" Azula snapped.

"Well...You've displayed quite a bit of power in the past, Azula." Katara noted, recalling the horribly devastating blue flame and lightning the Fire Princess had used in the past.

"Yes. But no more. Not since your friend, the Fire De-...I mean, Fire 'Angel'!" Azula spat the words out as if they were venom. "She took my powers away!"

"Who? You mean...Taranee??" Aang stammered.

"Yes. It was her, exactly! These outworlders come here, with their strange ideas, and...well, you can see what happens! Madness!" Azula screamed, as she picked up a shattered and defaced work of art lying on the floor. "This used to be a portrait of me, Zuko, mother and father. Now look at it!" she cried, a plea for sympathy that fell on mostly deaf ears.

Aang and Katara, though, and not for the first time, wondered what happened to turn Cornelia into a plant, Taranee into an avenging fire stealer, and Zuko nuts enough to destroy his own Palace! What happened in the Fire Nation these past few months?? They were beginning to realize just how little they knew!

"He's gone quite mad, you know. I even heard he attacked his oldest and closest friend." Azula added.

"I'm only going to ask this one more time: What do you want, Azula?!" Aang demanded, her evasiveness only annoying him.

"Your help in deposing my brother, of course!" Azula answered, the witch's smile never far from her lips.

ooooooooooooooo

In 'the Sandpit', an arena composed of the black volcanic sand found in the Fire Nation, two earth bending masters faced each other.

Toph, the earth/dirt/rock/metal bending master vs. Ghashuin the sand bending master.

Each waited for the other to make the first move.

It was a staredown that could have lasted an age, or more. Neither would budge an inch, lest they give their opponent the opening, and advantage, they desired.

However, Toph was bored with the standoff!

"So...", began the earth girl, "...How's your family?" she asked, seeking to make conversation while still in her fighting stance.

"They disowned me." Ghashuin blankly responded, while maintaining his readiness to do battle.

"...Oh..." Toph replied.

_Pause_

"...I ran away from mine." she added.

ooooooooooooooo

Back home in Heatherfield, everything was fine. Perfect, even! (Well, as close to perfect as life could be!)

However difficult things got for Hay Lin (her braces, Stacy/Nerissa stealing her boyfriend, etc.), one thing was constant: Her friends were always there for her.

_"You guys were great! The fashion show was a total success!" Hay Lin cheered._

_"Any time, Hay Hay!" Irma replied. _

_"You know what? We should have a party to celebrate!" Cornelia suggested._

_Errrr...Tonight?" Hay Lin sputtered. "I was kinda...going out with Eric." _

_"Hot date, huh??" Irma giggled._

_"Irma!!" Hay Lin said, blushing. "We're just having dinner at the Silver Dragon! And Eric's granddad is gonna be there!"_

_"So your grandma, Yan Lin, will be there, too? Alright! A double date!" Irma laughed. She knew about the relationship between the two senior citizens, and loved teasing Hay Lin about it! "But watch out for those old people! I hear they suck face like no one's business! Too bad you don't have a pet! Than it could get in on that hot Lyndon action, too!"_

_After leaving her friends to take care of things at home and get ready for her date, Hay Lin missed the arrival of Will Vandom, the leader of the Guardians._

_"Bad news, guys!" Will announced. "Frost's escaped, and they think he's here in Heatherfield looking for revenge!"_

_"Oh no! We better call Hay Lin!" Cornelia cried. _

_"We can't do that, Corny!" Irma pleaded. "She has her date with Eric tonight!"_

_"You're right!" Cornelia agreed, snapping her fingers. "And Hay Lin's going to have the best date ever!"_

_Surreptitiously keeping to the shadows, Cornelia, Will, Taranee and Irma, while in their winged Guardian forms, ensured that Hay Lin and Eric's date went off without a hitch! (except for the too hot noodles! But Hay Lin, using her air powers after distracting her dinner companion, cooled off the dish)._

_There was one close call with a runaway serving cart, but Cornelia summoned vines form the earth below the floorboards to ensnare the wheels and bring it to a dead stop._

_Keeping a discrete distance from the couple, the unseen Guardians followed Hay Lin and Eric from the Silver Dragon to the park, constantly on the lookout for any Meridian trouble._

_But all they encountered was a bum hassling people for money. When he spotted Hay Lin and her boyfriend, he made a beeline for them, spurring the Guardians to take action before he reached the cute couple!_

_Thinking he was Frost in disguise, Irma blasted water at him, knocking him down!_

_Then Cornelia wrapped him in plant stalks, immobilizing him!_

_Will shone the light of the Heart of Candracar on the man, to remove any magical glamour._

_However..There was none._

_In the light generated by the flame of her hand, Taranee showed the others the panhandler was merely what he appeared to be..._

_...A scared old man._

_Mortified, the Guardians quickly made amends!_

_They emptied their pockets and asked what they could do for him, hurriedly explaining they were supposed to be rehearsing a movie and thought he was their co-star._

_He said 'food', and Corny offered up an entire salad, grown on the spot right behind him!_

_Taranee suggested 'How about a shave'? and set about using her pinpoint control over flame to burn away the man's shaggy beard!_

_Luckily, the old man was too inebriated to know what was going on! When he asked, Irma told him 'It's all done with CGI these days!', and he accepted it._

_Then Will asked him if there was anywhere he'd like to go, planning to use the Heart to tele-transport the man there._

_He replied 'My granddaughter's place in Open Hill."_

_Before that happened, though, Irma speculated she could dilute the alcohol in his system by increasing the level of water._

_Once the elderly man was safely (and soberly) away, visiting his granddaughter (and resolved to stop hitting the sauce, lest he have any more 'episodes'), the Guardians planned to resume their surveillance of Hay Lin, but Will received a message from Candracar, so she folded all four of them there immediately._

_(The four Guardians told Hay Lin all of this later on, after the date)._

_Meanwhile, Eric and Hay Lin had wandered over to the Observatory to ostensibly 'watch the stars'._

_But somehow, their eyes didn't gaze skyward all that much, and spent most of their time fixated on each other._

_They weren't the only ones who thought the grounds of the Observatory was the place to be._

_Someone else was there, too._

_Someone oddly dressed for the weather._

_Excusing herself to take a trip to the 'little girls' room', Hay Lin circled back around and went invisible._

_Quietly sneaking up on the stranger (by floating above the ground and not making a sound or footprint), Hay Lin blew a hard wind at him that snapped open his trenchcoat, revealing the Meridianite monster called Frost!_

_Temporarily blinded by the raging gust in his eyes, Frost lashed out with all his might!_

_But them someone grabbed his arms!_

_Hay Lin!_

_She opened her mouth, inhaled into her considerable Candracar-altered lungs, and reversed the mini-tornado that had come out of her throat a moment before, creating a powerful suction that stole the air around Frost's head!_

_Dizzy from the lack of oxygen, Frost passed out._

_Her friends came back from Candracar soon after, and Hay Lin rushed to Eric to finish her date._

_Later, when they asked Hay Hay how she knew it was Frost, she explained 'His clothes were so out of date, I knew something was up! Plus, I spotted you guys hovering around earlier, and put two and two together!'_

Just the thought that her friends were watching out for her gave Hay Lin the courage to face down a fiend like Frost!

They laughed about it then, never dreaming the day would come when they wouldn't be there for each other!

Even Azula helped Hay Lin in their brief time together. Though the Fire Nation Princess was the last person you'd expect to be supportive and kind, given that she had quite the attitude, along with an ultra-obsessive need to be in charge and lord it over those 'inferior' to her, Hay Lin guessed she really was lonely and wanted a friend.

_In Avatar Town, a hungry 'Avatar' Hay Lin eyed the scrumptious dumplings (and all the other yummy food!) spread out for the V.I.P. feast._

_"Mmmm! It all looks so good!" Hay Lin said, licking her chops._

_"So take some, already!" Azula urged the Air Guardian._

_"Oh? But I can't! Madam Wong said the food is for the visiting dignitaries." the timid girl replied._

_"So? Do you do __everything__ Madam Wong tells you to do?" Azula challenged her._

_"What? No! Of course not! I mean...Yes." the embarrassed 'Avatar' revealed._

_"Hay Lin, you're the Avatar!" the royal Princess declared. "That puts you on a higher rung than any of these supposed 'dignitaries'!"_

_"But I'm not the __real__ Avatar!" Hay Lin confessed._

_"But you are an air bender! And there's only one other of those in the whole world! Which is more than these so-called 'nobles' can say! Take the dumplings! You deserve them!" Princess Azula said with authority._

_"But what if Madam Wong catches me??" the skittish young girl fretted._

_"Tell her you were hungry! What's she going to do? Fire you from your 'Avatar' job??" Azula teased._

_"I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a bite." Hay Hay agreed._

_"That's my girl!" Azula cheered her success in convincing Hay Lin to follow her lead._

_But wouldn't you know what happened next?_

_"Hay Lin!! What are you doing??!" Madam Wong cried upon entering the dining room._

_"Oh. Hi, Madam Wong. I was...hungry." Hay Lin, dumpling bits hanging from her lips, sheepishly admitted._

_The stern matriarch opened her mouth, ready to issue harsh words of condemnation, Hay Lin surmised._

_But then the elderly taskmistress stopped. The features of her face softened. Madam Wong wasn't angry at Hay Lin anymore. She was...concerned? Worried??_

_"I see. Well...Don't overdo it. Save some for our guests." a much nicer Madam Wong said._

_"Okay, Madam Wong. Thank you!" a grateful Hay Hay replied._

_"You...really must remember not to skip your meals, Hay Lin. It's not good for the body!" the flustered Madam Wong added._

_"I know. Thank you for your concern, Madam Wong. I'll do better in the future." Hay Lin said, bowing to her elder._

_Then she turned to her new friend. "It worked! You were right, Azula!" the Air Guardian, wearing one of her biggest smiles ever, said._

_"Of course I was right, Hay Lin." the royal Azula spoke as if issuing a decree. "You must deal firmly with those inferior to yourself."_

_"Madam Wong's not that bad! She's just kinda high-strung and...Okay, she is kind of bad! But she means well." the gracious Guardian of Air commented._

And so it went, those few months ago. A far more innocent time for our resident air elemental of the infinite dimensions.

Her friends were something Hay Lin could always count on.

Always!

And now she had to be there for them.

No matter what!

Right?

Thinking about her friends gave Hay Lin the strength to go on.

Returning to reality, Hay Lin considered her situation - fighting War Dragons, solo!

Riding the winds high above the city, the atmosphere being the one place that had always comforted the young Asian girl as much as her fellow Guardians (luckily, the ashfall was much lighter over the Red Zone than in the rest of the city. Two ton, flying fire-breathing reptiles were more than enough of a challenge! Adding hot, choking ash to the menu would be unendurable!), Hay Lin lay in wait for her aerial adversary, figuring she could dispatch it just as easily as the first one.

But this dragon had a different idea!

"Awp! It's coming right at me!! Somehow, it knows where I am!!" the invisible Hay Lin yelped as she zigzagged through the Fire Nation sky in a fruitless bid to evade her pursuer.

Perhaps the dragon could smell her? Or 'read' the air currents as the Guardian moved through them?

However, it really didn't matter _why_.

The flying fire-breather was coming for her, and there was nothing Hay Lin could do about it!

The winged beast was moving far too fast as it slashed across the sky! Even if the Guardian of Air could create a large enough cyclone in time, at the speed the dragon was moving it'd be impossible to aim the slow-moving tornado at it!

But...Maybe there was another way?

Quickly assembling a weapon from the materials left at a skyscraper construction site, Hay Lin gave herself an internal peptalk.

_Come on, Hay Lin! Suck it up! You can do this!!_

"What would Irma say?" Hay Lin wondered out loud as she pointed the 'windarm' (so named because it wasn't a 'firearm') at the swiftly approaching, bat-winged reptile. "Oh yeah! 'Say hello to my leetle friend'!" she quipped in a desperate attempt to screw up her courage and not think about what would happen if she failed.

Hay Lin fired her air cannon of debris directly at the onrushing firedrake!

Distracted by the pummeling metal and concrete, the 20-foot dragon veered offcourse and made like a jumbo jet tearing into the World Trade Center, crashing into an upper floor of an evacuated building!

"Woo-hoo! Score another one for me! Hay Lin 2, Dragons 0!" the Air Guardian squealed in triumph! "I'm coming, Momo!" Hay Lin earnestly promised as she took off in search of her friend's companion animal.

And also, ultimately, her last giant reptilian opponent.

ooooooooooooooo

In the Fire Lord's personal Agni Kai combat field, Irma stood alone against the earth bending and plant bending might of Long Feng and his Dai Li.

"Yeah, about that..." Irma considered Long Feng's 'generous' offer to live as a slave under his iron-fisted rule of the Earth Kingdom. "Nuh uh."

"Then prepare to die!!" Long Feng commanded. His Dai Li responded by moving their hands and arms to activate their fatal bending moves.

But Irma Lair wasn't worried.

Or, even more naturally for Irma, joking.

In fact, she was downright..._Serious!_

"Funny you should say that stuff about ruling..." Irma said, ominously.

ooooooooooooooo

From the air, things looked much the same as ever.

At times, with the Asian culture predominant, it even reminded her of home

Home.

She understood things back home.

But here?

Though there were similarities, life on the Avatar's world was...different.

_Very _different!

Back in the Earth Kingdom camp where she and Irma had stayed with the other Freedom Fighters, things were...okay.

But sometimes got a little odd.

Though here she could use her powers openly (which Hay Lin loved!), there were other issues to deal with.

Mainly involving the people. Oh, they were nice, sure, but...hardly as cosmopolitan as she was used to.

To put it bluntly!

_"Wow! You're Hay Lin the air bender, aren't you??" said an Earth Kingdom admirer._

_"Yes, I am!" Hay Lin beamed, proud to be recognized._

_"Can we ride your sky bison?" the woman asked, pointing to Appa stationed nearby._

_"Um, well, it's not __my__ sky bison!" Hay Lin disappointedly informed the couple._

_"So, how are you going beat the Fire Lord?" the man inquired._

_"Me??" the Air Guardian retorted, her annoyance beginning to show. "I think you have me confused with..."_

_"How does it feel to be the last of an extinct race?" the man, who was a professor in Ba Sing Se, unthinkingly asked._

_"It's...Excuse me." Hay Lin snapped._

_Then she turned around and flew off!_

_"Idiot!" the woman yelled at her companion. "Why'd you have to bring that up?!?"_

_"What do you mean? It's a good question! I'm a scientist! I have to ask questions like that!" Prof. Kei defended his scholarly pursuit of knowledge._

_"You offended the Avatar! That's bad luck!" the woman bitched. "Now I'll never get a ride on her sky bison!" she pouted._

Hay Lin had tried to fit in.

Really!

But it was so hard!

_"Hey, Katara, you said before you were thinking of changing your wardrobe. I can help with that! I can design new clothes for you!" Hay Lin, in her specially-designed jeans, offered. "They'd really highlight those big blue eyes of yours!" she added, grinning, certain she had sealed the deal. _

_"If it's all the same with you, Hay Lin, I don't really feel like discussing clothes. Not after...you know." a somber Katara replied, referring to the fate of her brother, Sokka._

_"Oh. Right. Sorry." a much chagrined Hay Lin apologized._

_Later, Hay Lin spotted Irma hopping on Appa's back alongside Katara._

_"We're going clothes shopping in Omashu!" Irma announced._

_"You are??" an astonished Hay Lin gasped. "But..."_

_"Oh, I'm sorry! Did you want to go, too? I thought you were busy training with Aang!" Irma regretted offending her oldest friend, and sought to make it up to her._

_"No, that's okay. You go ahead. I have...things to do." Hay Lin replied, finally cognizant of the fact that, after months on the Avatar's world, some things had indeed changed._

_Heartbroken that she and Irma were drifting apart, Hay Lin wandered over to her fellow air elemental to seek relief from her grief._

_However..._

_"Sorry, Hay Lin!" Aang perfunctorily apologized without even glancing in her direction as he practiced air, water, fire and earth bending. "I'm kind of busy at the moment! Maybe later?" Then he added "Oh. Wait. I have to go over invasion plans with the Generals later on. Maybe..." he trailed off, focused on bending a fireball encased in a circle of water._

_"Sure, Aang." Hay Lin sighed, as she walked away. "I'll have my people call your people."_

_And Toph... was Toph._

_"I'd love some new clothes, Hay Lin!" Toph eagerly agreed to Hay Lin's generous gift. "Anything would be better than these old rags!" she exclaimed._

_"Really, Toph? I'd love to..." Then Hay Lin got a look at Toph's 'old rags'. Her very expensive, upper class Earth Kingdom robes marred with nary a stain or a hole. And she realized..."Wait. You're blind. So that was...a joke?" she quizzed the sightless earth bender._

_"Yeah! Isn't it funny?!" Toph chortled._

_"A riot." Hay Lin deadpanned._

_"Although I could use new shoes! Ha! Not really!" Toph laughed. "I never wear shoes! I even got Sokka to quit wearing shoes! It was great! We would play footsie for hours! We...Did I just say that out loud?" Toph, slightly embarrassed, said._

_Hay Lin blanched, screwing her face up in disgust at this unwelcome TMI (too much information)!_

_Absent-mindedly meandering toward the Earth Army's area of the camp, Hay Lin stopped when she heard a familiar voice..._

_...Caleb!_

_But he was discussing important war plans with the heads of the Allied forces, so Hay Lin didn't interrupt._

_The sharp-eyed Meridian rebel, though, spotted his old compatriot from Heatherfield. "Hay Lin?" he asked, stopping his meeting. "Do you need something?"_

_"No. That's okay, Caleb. I'm good." she meekly replied._

_Whereupon Caleb, without skipping a beat, resumed his war conference. "We can't use Sokka's old route into the Capital. They'll be guarding that entrance. So I think we should…"_

_All alone, a state of being she had never gotten used to in her short life, Hay Lin kicked at a rock and shuffled off. _

_Retiring to her tent in camp that night, Hay Lin thought she could at least forget the cares of the world while her mind and body rested._

_But her dreams provided no escape. _

_Because it was THAT dream!_

_Again and again, always the same dream!_

_Stirred from her restless slumber, Hay Lin recounted the events of the nightmare one more time!_

_Oh, the dream had started out fine. _

_At first._

_As it always had._

_But all too quickly, it turned on her!_

_In her dream, Hay Lin served tea to her Grandmother. _

_Normal, right? Considering they both worked in a restaurant, that is._

_But then Grandma Yan Lin got very demanding, charging her with various menial tasks to perform! _

_And then Yan Lin morphed into Madam Wong bossing Hay Lin around!_

_She wondered what it all meant._

_Madam Wong was certainly no Grandma, but at least she looked after Hay Lin (for her own reasons, sure, but at that point in her life, with no friends or family, Hay Lin was grateful for even that tainted bit of kindness)._

_And now? She didn't even have that._

Why is it so hard here? _an anxious Hay Lin moaned. _Even when I try to be myself, it doesn't seem to work out on this crazy world!

ooooooooooooooo

As a sand dweller, Ghashuin was used to the hot, dry climate of the Si Wong desert of the Earth Kingdom.

Not the sticky, humid air of the Fire Nation.

A drop of sweat rolled down his face, fell...and landed on the parched sands below.

Toph smiled.

It was all she needed.

ooooooooooooooo

Some Agni Kais take place entirely in the mind.

Most, though, occur in physical places called arenas.

Like the one in the Fire Lord's Palace.

Case in point: Irma Lair vs. Long Feng & the Dai Li.

"No more chances!!" Long Feng roared. "Men, destroy this impertinent obstacle!"

As the deadly Dai Li prepared to bend Irma to an early demise, the Guardian of Water defiantly stood her ground!

"I couldn't do this in front of Aang or Katara. They're too nice." Irma lectured her opponents, the anger rising in her voice with each word she spoke. "Me, I don't have that problem. Not after this place cost me almost all of my friends!"

With a simple wave of her hand, Irma made the Dai Li freeze!

Then, Long Feng himself was dancing to her tune!

"W, what are you doing to me?!? **Nooooo!!!**"he cried, as his limbs moved of their own volition, a macabre puppet with Irma pulling the strings!

"Ruling..." Irma cruelly answered. "...You and all of your earth bending buddies!"

ooooooooooooooo

Had the dream again. Not that it matters. Not up here_. thought Hay Lin as she sailed on the air currents above the seemingly endless ocean of the Avatar's world. _

_The invasion fleet had recently left port, and Hay Lin was taking a much-needed break. _

_The zephyr winds caressed the Asian girl's skin like she imagined a lover would someday. The air adored Hay Lin, and she reveled in the uncritical, unquestioning acceptance of her element, soaring high into the sky, without a care in the world! _

_All the petty troubles in her life faded away, way up here!_

_Nothing could beat this feeling!_

_The freedom!_

_The joy!_

_The..._

_"Hay Lin?" the voice called her back to reality. "Could you please come down here?" asked a man on the ship below._

_Landing as instructed, Hay Lin found out what the Water Tribe sailors wanted._

_"We're getting close to Fire Nation waters. So if you could scout ahead?" the warrior known as Bato requested._

_"Sure. No problem." Hay Lin blankly responded._

_"Great! Thanks a lot!" a grateful Bato replied._

_Feeling appreciated, Hay Lin's mood brightened._

_Then, as she rode her familiar winds skyward, Hay Lin heard Bato say something else._

_"Isn't she wonderful?" Bato told his fellow warrior. "I don't know what we'd do without our invisible secret weapon!" _

_Hearing this, while her body soared, Hay Lin's spirit sank._

_Later, the Air Guardian stood on the deck of the Water Tribe ship. They had left the Earth Kingdom port a day ago._

_Soon, they would be embroiled in a war with a whole nation._

_Hay Lin considered her current situation. Aang, with his awesome Avatar duties, had no time for her. Irma was best buds with Katara now. Katara treated her coldly. _(Why didn't she like me?? _the girl Guardian fretted. _What did I ever do to her?!) _Toph was Toph (right now she was asking the Water Tribe crew swabbing the deck to keep the water away from her. Toph hated to clean her feet, even accidentally). Caleb was war planning. And none of them were talking._

_Her father told Hay Lin he always wondered how she and her friends got along so well. "Most times you put five girls together, they scratch each others' eyes out!" he had said. Hay Lin thought he was joking. But maybe he was on to something, after all._

_As the ship sailed west, towards the Fire Nation (and destiny), Hay Lin looked at the sky. It was grey and overcast. A perfect complement to her mood. Her life used to be warm and sunny. But now?_

_In her dreams, her past life haunted her._

_As for her new life?_

_A whole world who didn't know who she was, who might never understand her? Even her identity wasn't her own, here on this strange world where people commonly, and quite often, mistook her for someone else._

_Aang, Toph and the rest (even Katara. Usually, anyway) were nice enough, but Hay Lin knew she'd never be one of them._

_And her old friends?_

_Oh, she still had Irma, but after what the Water Guardian talked her into? Ditching (betraying!) Aang, Katara and Toph?? Now Hay Lin wasn't even sure about her Candracar-powered companion, who she'd known for years! _

_Hay Lin knew she had to make a choice between her new friends and her old friends, her new life and her old life. Hay Lin knew she had to be assertive. Azula had taught her that._

_But it was so hard!_

_What was left?_

_Anything??_

_Hay Lin, who had tried to please everyone she ever met, up to and including shaving her head to pass for the Avatar, stood there in her still short, rather boyish haircut on the ship's deck and reflected on her life._

_Her eyes darted from side to side. There was no one around._

_Hay Lin began calmly walking toward the railing of the ship, then halted her movement, as if hesitating._

_Finally, she broke into a sprint, grabbed the railing and hoisted herself up on top of it._

_Hay Hay stood there a moment, gazing out at the sea. Then she closed her eyes and...stepped off._

Hay Lin's eyes snapped open. She was perched on a skyscraper high above the Red Zone of the Fire Nation capital.

_Back to the mission. _Hay Lin sternly observed, as she once again entered the grimy, soot-filled, war-torn sky under her own power.

Forgetting her self-indulgent reverie, Hay Lin returned to the task at hand: Tracking her prey.

Reasoning that dragons were mountain animals, she deduced the beast would seek shelter on the side of a building.

Which is where she'd also probably find Momo!

Suddenly, shouting from below!

Someone else had found Hay Lin!

Fire Army soldiers!

"Look at them!" an amused Hay Hay said. "They're so tiny, they look like ants!"

Then the fire benders launched missiles of flame at the Mistress of the Vaporous Element!

"Ants with fire! Hmphh!" Hay Lin disgustedly remarked. "Nothing to see here, fellas!" she added, with no small amount of contempt, and then disappeared from sight.

The soldiers, though, had given Hay Lin what she wanted...

...The last dragon's attention!

Attracted by the commotion, the mighty fire animal soared through he air, spewing hot flames before it!

Caught by an unlucky blast that singed her arm, Hay Lin became visible!

Realizing she was mere moments away from death, and in too much pain to save herself, Hay Lin thought it was all over!

But she didn't think of her life in that last instant.

No, Hay Hay thought of the friends she'd never see again!

And then...

...While the dragon bore down on the lithe, unmoving form of the Guardian of Air...

...Momo sailed out of the clouds!

Distracting the sky scorcher, Momo led it away from the hurting Hay Lin!

"Momo!!" she cried, as the air lemur flew just inches ahead of its demon-winged pursuer!

Forgetting her pain, Hay Lin chased after the furious dragon!

And, even more surprisingly, caught up to it!

Determined to make the sizzling skymonster forget its mammalian prey, Hay Lin shot air ram tornadoes, air cannons of whatever she could get her hands on, and even air daggers that could penetrate armor at the scaly one's tough hide, but the great beast merely turned in her direction and let loose a vomitous stream of hellfire, which dissipated whatever air attack Hay Lin produced, then resumed its hunt of the tasty lemur!

Desperate to stop the foul fire-breather before it ate Momo, Hay Lin landed on the creature's back and formed 'air fists' (fists with funnels of air around them) to batter the beast senseless!

"Leave. Him. Alone!" the maddened Hay Lin demanded as she thrashed the back of the dragon's head with her 'funnel fists'!

In response, the irritated dragon rolled in the sky, shaking the Air Guardian from his backside!

But Hay Lin was partially successful.

The dragon halted his hot pursuit of the air lemur!

Unfortunately, all its attention was now focused on the girl who had been such a thorn in its side!

Circling around, the wild War Dragon sought to finish her off!

All of Hay Lin's old tactics were useless against this creature that must have been from hell itself!

"He's too fast, too hot! I've gotta find some way to shut him down! But how??" she hastily pondered, in the few seconds of life she had left!

Looking up at the sky, Hay Lin had an idea.

_The sky...In science, we learned there's different layers, each with a different temperature. So, if I exchange a colder layer...for the warm air here at the surface...it should...Yeah! That should cool off Mr. Hot Stuff!_

Calling down the thin, frigid air of the upper atmosphere, the Air Guardian of Infinity wrapped it around the hapless dragon!

Her plan worked!

Very well, in fact.

Too well!

You see, dragons used warm updrafts of air to fly in the thick, atmospheric currents closest to the surface.

Bereft of that, and frozen to boot, the fire beast lost the ability to soar through the sky completely and fell to the ground far, far below, making a huge crater in the middle of the city street!

Watching this horror unfold from above, Hay Lin had one comment:

"Oh no...Momo, what have I done?!?"

"Cheee?" the clueless lemur responded.

ooooooooooooooo

"It was amazing, Aang! Sand bending was like how you described air bending! Instead of having one set of eyes, I had a thousand!" the greatest earth bender ever joyfully exclaimed to her Avatar friend.

_As the fallen drop of sweat hit the sand, sending vibratory echoes across the grains all the way to the Earth Kingdom girl, Toph sprang into action, commanding the millions of bits of volcanic basalt that constituted the black sand at Ghashuin's feet to encircle and entwine the young sand bender's limbs!_

_His position revealed, Ghashuin struggled to free himself from the sand trap! Failing that, and though his arms were restrained, he went on the offensive in a desperate attempt to take down his opponent. Ghashuin kicked his legs, and wave after wave of needle-sharp sand flew at Toph, cutting her unprotected arms and face!_

_Toph responded by dissolving the sand under Ghashuin._

_The stunned sand bender sank in the liquified gunk! Buried completely in the dark as night beach soil of the Fire Nation!_

_Then, with another motion of rare earth bending form, Toph hardened the sand until it was as strong as concrete, imprisoning her foe!_

"That's great, Toph! I'm really happy for you!" Aang sincerely said.

However, the earth bending master could sense the anxiety in the Avatar's voice. "But we have...company." he added.

"Huh?" the blind girl uttered. "Who?"

Across the way, in the upper reaches of the Fire Lord's Palace, another reunion took place.

"Irma!" Katara shouted with glee, greeting her water sister with a warm hug. "I'm so happy to see you! How did you defeat all those Dai Li guys?"

"Oh, it wasn't easy." Irma admitted with a smile.

_"Where's all your threats now, big man? Huh??" Irma berated Long Feng as she forced him and his Dai Li to repeatedly slam themselves into the wall!_

_"Unh!! You can't...Oof!!...keep this up...forever! Nghh!...little girl! Sooner or...Ahk!...we will...!" the former ruling minister of Ba Sing Se spat through clenched teeth._

_Though Long Feng and his earth bending lackeys were powerless to prevent Irma from making them beat themselves up, the Water Guardian knew he was right!_

"Luckily, I...had a little help." Irma added.

_"Hi, Irma!" the girl in the shadows said._

_"Cornelia!!" Irma shouted as the teen stepped into the light. Then the Guardian of Water lost control of the earth benders, and they fell in a pile on the floor. "You're okay!!" she exulted, upon seeing the blonde Heatherfieldian was human again._

_"I am now!" said Cornelia Hale, giving her old friend a big hug!_

_"Where's Caleb?" Irma inquired._

_"He said he had to check the weapons room!" Corny replied, heedless of the menace of the nearby Dai Li._

_"Boys and their toys!" Irma quipped._

_"You...will...pay..." Long Feng promised, as he struggled to free himself from the pile of mangled bodies he found himself trapped under!_

_"Now why don't you find Aang and the others and take care of Zuko once and for all?" the Earth Guardian implored Irma. "Zuko used me to make these 'plant benders'! That makes them my problem to solve! Go! I'll join you as soon as I can!"_

_"Gosh, thanks, Corny!" said Irma Lair, much happier than she'd been in a long time! "I almost hate to say goodbye, except I really do want to get that slimeball!" Irma cracked, confident she'd see her friend again very soon!_

_After Irma exited the arena, Long Feng continued his threats against the Guardian of Earth. "We are legion!" the would-be ruler of the Earth Kingdom claimed. "You cannot stop..."_

_"Yadda yadda yadda!" the bored earth elemental yawned. "Oh, I know! Let's see if any of you ate seeds!" she added, her interest clearly perked._

_With one quick movement of her arm, Cornelia germinated all the seeds in the earth benders' bodies, sending sprouted leaves and vines through their throats and out their mouths!_

_While those afflicted struggled to remove the quick-growing plants from their helpless form, their allies were wrapped up in the stalks issuing from their fellow Dai Li! _

_While watching the Earth Kingdom traitors attempt to extricate themselves from the quivering mass of living plants, Cornelia noticed one unfortunate earth bender must have had a digested seed in his alimentary canal when it sprouted, because a vine came right out of his posterior!_

_"Ha! Ha! Now that's just wrong!!" Cornelia laughed heartily._

_"Enough!!" Long Feng yelled, using his plant bending powers to send a wave of green death through the room that killed off all the vegetation!_

_"You shouldn't have done that." Cornelia Hale, formerly the Earth Guardian, ominously stated, as her human aspect fell away like an old dress, to be replaced by something far greater. Corny's skin acquired the color of a garden, her face became bark-like, her arms and legs like tree trunks, her blond hair filled with leaves, and twigs sprouted all over her body. She was, now and forever, the Plant Spirit._

_Long Feng and his Dai Li hesitated as they began to comprehend just what it was they faced._

_Then plants erupted through the floor and the walls all over the length of the arena, making a jungle of it in an instant, with the Plant Spirit at the center of the explosion of nature's fury!_

"Look who else is here, Irma!" Katara revealed the good news, leading the Water Guardian to another recent arrival who just 'flew in'."

"Taranee!!" Irma rejoiced, giving her Guardian colleague a big hug! "I was so worried! How have you been?!!"

"Never better than right now!" Taranee confessed. "It's been nuts these last few days, what with the volcanic eruptions and all the other things!"

"The Fire Army pulled out of a lot of small towns, recalled a lot of troops to the capital because of the feared Invasion by the Earth Kingdom. But with no one to keep the peace in the outlying areas, a lot of suppressed hostility came out! Some people saw it as an opportunity to 'settle scores', some hundreds of years old! It was crazy!" Taranee explained. "So I was pretty busy! With that and the tsunami!"

"There was a tsunami??" Irma gulped.

"Yeah. Out in the ocean, because of all the geological activity. I saw it as I flew here. But I stopped it before it reached shore!" the Fire Guardian assured her audience.

"How'd you do that?" Katara wondered, as a tsunami was an awesome act of nature!

"I had to vaporize the water." Taranee disclosed, as if it was no big deal. "Then I had to stop the tsunami going the other way, before it hit the Earth Kingdom!"

"The other way?? Then...you saved the fleet, too! Good job!" Katara congratulated her.

_Sniff! _Irma crinkled her nose at the odd smell. "What is that stink??" she asked.

"Ah, well, I..got close to the volcanoes...and their gases when they exploded!" Taranee revealed, without spelling out WHY they erupted - she caused it!

"You were in exploding volcanoes??" Irma marveled. "Geez, remind me never to do that! Pee-yew!"

"Um, you get used to it." Taranee weakly smiled. "And, it was kind of unavoidable." she added, as she struggled with admitting her role in the current mess.

"That really is amazing, Taranee!" Katara applauded her.

"It wasn't that great! Not after I..." Taranee started to confess, but was interrupted by Irma.

"Hey, you wouldn't believe who I saw downstairs!" Irma began. "It was..."

"Hay Lin!!" Taranee shouted, forgetting her embarrassing revelation for the moment.

"No, not Hay Lin! It was..." said Irma, a bit annoyed Tara talked over her.

"No, I mean Hay Lin!" the Guardian of Fire said, pointing to the girl who just wafted in through the upper-story window!

"Hi, guys." said the emotionally drained Air Guardian, not even bothering to look up to match her friends' gazes.

ooooooooooooooo

Hay Lin had wondered, many times over the past few months, what the reunion with her Guardian friends would be like.

But she never imagined it would be like this! Her friend, Cornelia, a plant?! And Taranee? Hay Lin couldn't even look her in the eye!

"Hay Lin! It's so good to see you!!" said the excited Taranee as she ran to give her friend a hug!

But Hay Hay was not in a hugging mood.

Recoiling from Hay Lin's unusually cold behavior, Tara stepped back and regarded her fellow Guardian. She did not like what she saw! The unkempt, short hair. The colorless cheeks. The empty eyes. It was clear the air elemental had been through some trauma!

Taranee didn't know quite what to say, so all she managed to blurt out was: "Hay Lin? What did you do to your hair?"

Which, to Hay Lin, sounded like "_What happened to __you__? Why did you __change__??_"

But before either could react to what they were feeling, Aang chimed in!

"It's great you're all here, but we have a situation!" the Avatar declared.

"Do you mean Zuko??" Hay Lin asked. "Where is he?"

"I haven't seen him yet. But we did run into someone else!" Aang exclaimed.

"Hello, Hay Lin. Nice to see you again, even if you are garbed like a peasant." Azula entered the room and immediately zinged the Air Guardian!

"What? What did you say??" Hay Lin gasped. The fashion-forward Heatherfieldian wore a vest over a long-sleeve wrap top with extra-long ties that circled her lithe frame twice before ending in double loops, complimented with bootcut jeans that had her own designs and appliqués affixed to it. She put a lot of work into her attire and considered the ensemble rather trendy.

Consequently, she was quite miffed when Azula labeled it 'peasant wear'!

"Although, I suppose those horrid rags do take attention away from that terrible hairstyle of yours. Whatever did you do to your hair??" the Fire Princess fired another dig at Hay Lin's appearance.

"Lay off, Azula!" Taranee stuck up for her friend. "You're not here to give fashion tips!"

"No." Azula smirked. "Although it clearly wouldn't hurt! Now then..." Azula regarded Aang, Katara, Toph and the three Guardians like a cat regarded a ball of string. "...Have you decided on my proposal?"

"What proposal??" Irma asked.

"To stop Zuko, of course!" Azula clarified. "The only way to eliminate the threat my brother poses is if we work together. Hmphh! Working with air benders, water benders, earth benders and outworlders to save the Fire Nation! What an inauspicious day in our history, but I suppose it will have to do!"

"It makes sense." Taranee commented. "The more of us there are, the better our odds!"

"We don't need her, Aang!!" Toph stated rather emphatically. "We have enough bending experts to take down one guy!"

"If you could see, _earth girl, _you'd see the looks of disbelief on your friends' faces!" Azula snapped.

"Hey!" Toph snarled. "Don't start with me, fire trash!" the former Earth Rumbler shot back.

"Easy, Toph, easy!" Aang put a calming hand on the young earth bender's shoulder. "Don't let her get to you!"

"With the Heart of Candracar, Zuko's a lot more powerful than you realize, Toph!" Taranee added her expert opinion. "And Azula's plan is for me to create more fire benders to help us, which I'm not too crazy about..."

"Except even you recognize how dangerous the situation is!" the deposed Fire Princess scored debate points. "Zuko's undeserved power threatens everyone! He's totally lost control! I'm sure you've seen the madness out there! And that 'Third Way'? The whole country is in peril, so the traitorous dogs are trying to take advantage of it! I knew ZuZu would lose it and unleash his 'secret weapons' if he felt threatened, but even I'm surprised at the depths of his insanity! Earthquakes? Volcanoes? Dragons?! The Plant Creature?!? Destroying his own palace??? Heh. My ability to press my brother's buttons continues to amaze me!" she grinned.

"You mean you're responsible for all the chaos out there?!!" Aang gasped.

"Only indirectly, of course, although I suppose I am." replied Azula, whose ego couldn't resist bragging. "However, my only goal was to prove that Zuko is unfit to rule. As I am sure you all agree."

"Azula, that is low, even for you!" sparked the fiery Guardian of Fire.

"Regardless of your _feelings_ on the matter," Azula snidely commented, "what's important is that Zuko must be stopped before he destroys everything! He'll be back soon, and we must be ready!"

"But you goaded him??" Hay Lin cried. "This is all your fault?!!"

"Yes. Whatever. Old business. Let's move on, shall we?" Azula urged the freedom fighters. "Return fire bending to me and my men so we can terminate my brother's rule!"

As she spoke, Combustion Man and two other _formerly _expert fire benders entered the room and stood behind Azula.

"And of course, with Zuko out of the way, you'll be Fire Lord then, right?" the surprisingly perceptive Irma Lair noted.

"I suppose that is a sacrifice I will have to make! The Fire Nation needs a strong, _sane _leader! But I do promise to end the war. So what do you say? Is it a deal?" Azula smiled as sincerely as she could muster, and looked to the six heroes for their response.

Aang, Katara, Irma, Hay Lin, Taranee and Toph (well, maybe not Toph) looked at each other, then at Azula.

But no one spoke up.

"I thought you might be...hesitant." Azula said, steel in her voice as well as her hand, as she grabbed the dazed Hay Lin and put a knife to her throat! "I didn't want to do this. However, that doesn't mean I won't enjoy it! Give me your word you'll restore our fire bending, and I'll let her go."

"Azula! No! Don't!!" Aang begged.

"Halt! One move, one tiny little bending, and dear, sweet Hay Lin discovers what life is like without a throat!" Azula coldly promised. "I've planned for everything! I've even sent men to detain your air bison, so there won't be any last minute rescues!"

"You, you captured Appa??!" cried the Avatar, upset that both Hay Lin and his spirit animal companion were in grave danger!

"Don't worry! He won't be hurt! No one will, as long as you do what I say!" the rough royal said, her finger on the hilt of the blade.

"Aang, she's playing you! Appa is fine! Now let Hay Lin go or you'll regret it!!" Irma bellowed, hands at the ready, one step away from attacking the foul Fire Nation princess!

"Ah ah ah! You don't want to do that! Only I know the truth about the sky bison!" Azula expertly played the heroes, tickling the Air Guardian's throat with the sharp point of the knife. The Princess would get her way...or else!

"No, Irma! It's too risky!" Taranee held her friend back.

"I...you're right. I'm sorry, Hay Lin." Irma said, her rage as deflated as her hope that the Guardians will be reunited and happy, like they were in an almost forgotten time.

"Azula, you don't want this!" Hay Lin tried talking to the steely-eyed royal. "I know what they did to you - taking away your fire bending - must have hurt you a lot, and that's why you did those things to your brother. Because you were in so much pain. If Aang and the others understood that, I'm sure they'd help you!" the sweet, sensitive Asian girl confidently stated.

Aang, Katara, Irma and Taranee (especially Taranee) were struck by Hay Lin's words of forgiveness and lowered their heads in shame. They were so quick to judge, to condemn, another human being while the one put in harms' way by the 'villain' had nothing but love for her 'enemy'.

Azula picked up on the forgiveness vibe that offered such hope for her, but couldn't believe it. Deals and negotiations, those were allowed for a royal (especially if trickery and deceit were involved!) but how could she simply _ask_ someone to help her?!! She was Princess Azula of the Fire Nation!! She gave orders that were to be obeyed! She didn't crawl on her knees and beg, like some whipped eelhound!

"Azula, you don't have to act like this!" Hay Lin continued, the cold knife pressing against her warm, blood-filled throat. "I know it must embarrass you to ask for help, but Aang's a good guy!"

"Why would the Avatar help me?! He's my enemy!! I wasn't born yesterday, you know!" Azula scoffed. "And quit being so nice! Why aren't you scared?!?" she angrily asked her polite, petite captive.

"Why would I be? You're my friend!" Hay Lin declared, believing it with all her heart. "Please, Azula. It'll be okay."

Though Azula had done little to earn the Air Guardian's trust, Hay Hay had been through some trying times herself lately, so she was willing to give the troubled Fire Princess another chance, and extended the hand of friendship.

Only to see that welcoming hand swatted away.

Swatted hard!

"Ha ha ha! Naive, simple-minded fool! I was never your friend!! From the first we met, I was only using you!" the cruel Azula retorted.

"But, but you helped me...I thought..." Hay Lin muttered.

The Air Guardian's mind raced back to a few months ago, and Azula's true nature and goals revealed itself to her.

_"Madam Wong's not that bad! She's just kinda high-strung and...Okay, she is kind of bad! But she means well." the gracious Guardian of Air commented._

_"Like those friends of yours you were telling me about?" Azula replied, deftly changing the conversation to the subject she wished to learn more about._

_"Yeah! The Guardians! We're always helping people and fighting monsters and stuff! It's a lot of fun!" the excitable Hay Lin squealed. Then she tempered her enthusiasm. "Although, the monsters can get a little scary, sometimes."_

_"As scary as Madam Wong?" Azula said with a smirk._

_"Ha ha! No, not that scary! Hee!" Hay Lin laughed._

_"So, how many of you are there?" Azula very nicely pumped Hay Hay for info on the heroes of Candracar._

_"There are five Guardians." Hay Lin ran through the roster. "I'm the Air Guardian. Will's the leader and she's the Guardian of...What's that word?...Quintessence. I guess you'd call her an 'energy bender'."_

_"Energy?" the bemused Princess inquired._

_"Yeah, you know. Like electricity? Oh, wait. You guys don't have electricity around here. Um, we'll get back to her later." Hay Hay reasoned, then resumed her vocal essay. "Cornelia's the 'earth bender' of the group. You know, I bet you two would really hit it off! Then there's Irma, the 'water bender'..."_

_"Would she and I 'hit it off', as you say?" Azula smiled at her use of the Heatherfield teen's vernacular._

_"Seriously? Probably not. You're too much alike! Ha!" Hay Lin giggled, then instantly turned serious. "Please don't tell her I said that!"_

_"My lips are sealed." a grinning Azula said, pleased her plan to befriend Hay Lin and gain her trust had paid off. "Any more?"_

_  
Yeah! Taranee! She's the 'fire bender'..." Hay Lin continued._

Finally, Hay Lin understood what really happened between her and Azula back in Avatar Town.

"You...you used me!" the stunned Air Guardian cried.

"Well, duh! Hay Lin!" Azula cracked a mean smile.

As for Madam Wong's uncharacteristically nice behavior towards Hay Lin?

_The stern matriarch opened her mouth, ready to issue harsh words of condemnation, Hay Lin surmised._

_But then the elderly taskmistress stopped. The features of her face softened. Madam Wong wasn't angry at Hay Lin anymore. She was...concerned? Worried??_

_"I see. Well...Don't overdo it. Save some for our guests." a much nicer Madam Wong said._

What Hay Lin didn't know back then, but now firmly believed, was that, when the Guardian of Air told Madam Wong she was eating the off-limits dumplings because she was hungry, Azula, standing behind the ravenous Miss Lin, flashed lightning from her hand to scare Madam Wong into going along.

Even though Azula had threatened to kidnap Hay Lin when her original scheme to coax the Guardians to work for her failed, it wasn't until this moment, with Azula sticking the sharp point of a knife into Hay Lin's delicate neck as she mocked the very idea of friendship, that the Air Guardian realized the falsity of Azula's acts of kindness, the depths of the Fire Princess' devious nature.

"You have no idea how the world works, do you, you silly girl? Perhaps a demonstration is in order." The amoral Azula dug the blade into Hay Lin's tender neckflesh, and the crimson, life-giving plasma trickled out, painting a thin, red line on her exposed throat.

"**Ow!!**" Hay Hay screamed.

"Alright! I'll do it! Just stop hurting her!!" Tara yelled.

"Excellent! Now that you're all satisfied I mean business, if our erstwhile 'Fire Angel' can begin, soon Zuko will be put out of everyone's misery and things can finally get back to normal!" Azula gloated, another military victory in hand, unaware she had lost something much greater.

"Fine, Azula." snapped Taranee, as she walked over to the first candidate to restore fire bending to, Combustion Man. "But don't celebrate just yet. Zuko's pretty tough!"

"Oh, no doubt!" Azula replied. "But with all of us to oppose him, ZuZu doesn't stand..."

From out of the blue, Momo flew on top of the former fire bending Princess!

As the harried harridan tried (unsuccessfully) to dislodge the winged lemur who came to the rescue of his 'air bending' friend, the GAang, amused and delighted by the fortunate turn of events, commented on the unusual sight occurring before their eyes.

"Why do they ALWAYS forget Momo?" Aang said with a grin.

"Who cares why? Thank the Spirits they do!" Katara cracked.

"Hay Lin! Run!" urged Irma.

But Hay Lin saw Momo in danger, and had another idea.

First, she knocked the knife away. Then the Guardian of Air followed that up with an elbow to the Princess' face and a kick in the shins, causing Azula to fold like a house of cards.

And if it ended there, all would have been well.

But it didn't.

In an instant, the quick-moving Hay Lin (her speed aided by a blast of air behind her, a tactic she had picked up from the last air bender) was on top of the downed royal.

Hitting and punching the helpless (but lemur-free) Azula in the face. On the side of the head. In the neck!

The others thought Hay Lin's assault, while a bit over the top, a perfectly understandable response to Azula's vile acts against the Air Guardian, and therefore didn't try to immediately stop her (Irma even cheered her on, screaming "Yay! Go, Hay Lin!") but the Princess' lackeys moved to take action against the fighting fury. Hay Lin momentarily halted her pummeling of the Princess, peered at the onrushing soldiers and angrily spat "Well? You want some of this??!"

Seeing the look of pure rage in the petite Asian's eyes, two of Azula's crew of de-powered fire benders got cold feet and took off!

But not Combustion Man. The bald behemoth of a man, scary tough even without his explosive fire bending skills, charged the air bending lass! However, Hay Hay merely moved her right hand and blasted a furious funnel of air at him, sending the hulking Fire National crashing into the wall!

Then Hay Lin resumed her pounding of Princess Azula!

Irma could barely believe what she was seeing. Hay Lin was like a one-girl army! But the Water Guardian did manage to find her voice, at least, unlike the stunned others watching. "Uh, Hay Lin? I think you can stop now." she weakly suggested.

But Hay Lin didn't hear her friend (or pay any heed if she did) and continued raining haymakers on the prone form of the Princess, her once-delicate, but now cracked and peeling, fists painting Azula black and blue.

Even though Azula and her posse had been completely neutralized, Hay Hay didn't stop.

Or couldn't stop.

"Hay Lin!!" Aang and Taranee shouted scoldingly. Then Tara added "What are you doing? Look at her leg!"

Azula's artificial leg had come off, and Taranee wanted Hay Lin to understand Azula was disabled, thinking that would ease her ire, bring her back to her senses and cause Hay Hay to back off.

"What?" The Guardian of Air spotted the unattached limb. "Oh. I see."

Then Hay Lin picked up the prosthetic. "Thanks!" she chirped. And whacked Azula with her own leg!

"And that's for hurting Momo! And that's for saying my clothes are peasant robes! I'll have you know these are perfect knockoffs of designer jeans! I just got tired of wearing robes all the time!" the short-haired but _very _fashionably dressed Hay Lin raged while she thrashed the Fire Nation girl with the ash & rubber limb!

What the Air Guardian's companions didn't understand was how deep Azula's words cut Hay Lin. Her self-made clothes were the one thing that reminded Hay Hay of home and kept her centered, that told Hay Lin 'this is who I am, and it's going to be alright'. A feeling of reassurance she sorely needed after she was plunged into a world not her own, separated from family and most of her friends, underwent an 'extreme makeover' to play the bald-headed boy Avatar in an effort to fool his enemies and most especially after being thrown in the middle of a terribly costly and cruel war. Azula's fashion critique took that one, special thing near and dear to Hay Lin's heart, forged it into a knife...and stuck it in Hay Lin's soul as far as it would go, cutting her to the core. Much deeper than any real knife could. Then, for Azula to claim credit for the terrified state of the populace, of the whole horrible situation, made it even worse! On top of everything, for Azula to reveal she was NEVER Hay Lin's friend, that she was only using the Air Guardian back in Avatar Town, when to Hay Lin friendship was EVERYTHING... (Not to mention an incident yet to be revealed that tore at the young Wind Guardian's soul) ...It was all just too much for the usually pleasant Hay Hay to take!

Little wonder, then, that the normally cheery, vivacious Asian girl, who always had a ready smile and a friendly 'hello' for anyone she ever met…snapped.

It was as if Hay Lin wasn't even sitting atop Azula, beating her to within an inch of her life. All she saw, was Eric...Grandma Yan Lin...her parents...the Guardians...Aang...the Dragons...and the mean-spirited Princess…They all flashed through her mind.

"Don't have any more smart remarks, huh, Azula?!! Come on! Tell me how terrible my hair is!!!"

Hay Lin continued to club the unmoving Princess with the unattached body part, delivering blows that split flesh and cracked bone, sending blood spurting from wounds amid the unmistakable snap of skeletal fragments.

Her friends could only look on in horrified fascination.

"Holy crap, Hay Lin!" Irma yelped. She'd heard her father the police officer tell stories of perp/police brutality to fellow cops when he thought she was asleep in bed, but they never sounded as bad as what she was witnessing right now before her very eyes!

"And that's for saying you were my friend!!" Hay Lin cried, smashing the wooden leg into Azula's nose, breaking it. "Liar!!!"

The no longer stunned Irma, Aang and Taranee grabbed the bludgeoning Hay Lin and pulled her off the unconscious, injured Princess Azula.

They physically restrained the Air Guardian, and as her rage eased, Hay Lin sobbed and repeated the very revealing phrase that encapsulated all the pain in her heart.

"She said she was my friend..."

"Oh, Hay Lin!" Irma sympathetically responded. She finally began to understand just how badly Hay Lin had been affected by all that had happened to her.

"I'm not so sure that was the best way to go." Taranee acidly commented. "We could have used her help!"

"What? But, you can't trust Azula!" Hay Lin sputtered, feebly defending her actions "She's evil!!"

"Yes, but we could trust her to defeat her brother. After that, we could have taken care of her." Tara logically pointed out. "And you really shouldn't beat up a disabled person!" she disparagingly added.

"Azula is disabled??" a puzzled Hay Hay gasped. "Since when?"

"Since Zuko had his prison guards beat her up so badly, the doctors had to amputate! Didn't you notice the way she limped?" Taranee explained. "Or her one leg??" she said, sarcasm intended.

"Awp! Oh no! What have I done??" Hay Lin cried, dropping the bloody artificial limb to the ground. "Will she be okay?" she worriedly asked.

"Sure she will!" Aang lied. "Did we ever tell you about the time all of us, plus Zuko, hit her with all our bending combined, and she walked away without a scratch?" he said, referring to the time Azula, Mai and Ty Lee chased the GAang through the Earth Kingdom.

"Uh, yeah. About that? I don't think she's walking away now." Toph spoke up. The blind girl felt the vibrations through the stonework of the floor beneath her feet. She could sense Azula had several broken bones and wasn't about to get up anytime soon.

"Errrr...That's because..She's resting?" Aang weakly offered, hoping to make his friend Hay Lin feel better.

Hay Lin looked at the artificial leg lying by itself on the floor. Made from the finest ash and rubber trees (the former for strength and durability, the latter to provide a defense against lightning bending, and ensure such bending didn't electrocute Azula once that skill had been restored to her), it now symbolized how out of balance the Air Guardian's life had become.

"Sorry!" Hay Lin sincerely said. Then she hastily tried to re-attach the leg to the Princess' thigh.

However, time was running out.

"Hay Lin! Don't move her! You could injure her more!" Katara spelled out the facts of the matter. The compassionate water bending healer then stabilized Azula and set her broken bones. It was all she could do at the moment. "We'll send a medical team for Azula as soon as we can! Right now we have to find Zuko! Come on!" she ordered.

"But…" Hay Lin impotently uttered, as Aang, Toph, Taranee, Irma and Katara rose to the upper levels of the partly ruined Palace of the Fire Lord in their quest to locate the dangerous ruler of the Fire Nation

The girl who had been on an emotional see-saw left the leg next to Azula and followed her friends upstairs.

The Fire Princess, meanwhile, lay motionless on the ground.

Until…

"Unhhh. What do they feed that flying monkey, anyway??" Azula wheezed. "Ohhhhh."

As the freedom fighters ascended the Palace stairway, careful to avoid the missing steps and burned-out floors, Irma had a question for her oldest friend.

"Hay Lin, I know it's not 'Zula's fashion critique that set you off. What's really going on?"

"I..."

Hay Lin wanted to tell Irma all that she'd been through, including the most recent events, but she didn't know where to begin.

Then, an unusual sound echoed in the still air of the debris-strewn Palace.

CLAP CLAP CLAP

It was Zuko!

He applauded Hay Lin's efforts. "I doubt if I could have so thoroughly humiliated Azula! Congratulations, air girl!"

He hovered above the benders and Guardians, behind a shield of Candracan energy.

Unbeknownst to the freedom-loving invaders, Zuko had witnessed the whole ugly scene through the crystal prism of the Heart.

"Not exactly the technique I would have used on my sister, but certainly effective! Bonus for using her own leg against her. Even I couldn't have beat her that badly!" Fire Lord Zuko cheered. "But then, I was never her friend. And that's what really hurts, doesn't it? Friendship gone bad?" he sneered.

"No! I, I didn't mean to do that!!" the upset Hay Lin stammered.

"Don't belittle your accomplishments. It's not worthy of a warrior!" the Fire Lord chastised her, grinning in cruel amusement as he said it.

_Next:_

_Invasion, Part 3!_

_Zuko Uber Alles_

_(Zuko over all)_

_Plenty of big fights in store as Zuko battles Aang, Katara, Toph, Irma, Hay Lin, Taranee, Cornelia & Caleb!_

_That is, it's Zuko vs. …EVERYBODY!_

_Guess who wins?_

_(Hint: Look at the title!)_

_Can't __**anyone **__stop this guy??_

_Hmmm. Maybe someone can._

_What happened to Azula?_

_How did she react to the beating of a lifetime?_

_Let's flash-forward a few days after and see..._

Epilogue: Azula

"Mistress?" a Fire Nation soldier loyal to the Princess voiced. "Why don't you seek revenge on the Avatar's friend?"

"Why??" the bruised, bandaged and black-eyed Azula uttered, amazed someone would ask such a stupid question! "Isn't it obvious? Because that would prove such a creature could best me!"

"Creature? You mean the lemur?" the confused infantryman replied.

"Yes, of course! What else would I mean?!!" the stern royal snapped. "And no one can ever know!"

"But it was..." the military man attempted to explain.

"Enough! We will never speak of this again. Or..." Princess Azula threatened her subject, bolts of angry lightning dancing in her eyes.

"Yes, mistress. I understand." the lowly recruit answered, then bowed his head.

"See that you do. Or the most endangered beast in the world won't be the vulture griffin. It'll be your family!" Azula laid down her sinister law.

She had no idea Hay Lin beat her up.

Azula thought her assailant was Momo!

Notes

I like this chapter because it shows what kind of person Hay Lin is, both the good and the not so good.

"She said she was my friend..." Whoa. Intense stuff! This chapter has to be among my best work!

If you thought this chapter was amazing, wait till you see the conclusion! Not that the finale blows this out of the water. They're both great. In fact, there's so much water being blown around in the course of this tale, there won't be any water left at the end of this thing! The creativity river will be bone dry!

When I read the title of the chapter, The Ballad of Hay Lin, I hear that tinkly Asian music they play at the beginning of _Avatar _episodes.

Another line from the song used for the musical subtitle is 'Who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken". Which describes Hay Lin's situation pretty well, in that her (friendship) heart was broken by Azula.

Will was empowered by Cassidy's Star in the W.I.T.C.H. comic, so it's plausible a villain could use the same tactic.

Cornelia received the Breath of Time in Issue 42 of the comic.

Allusions - The Human Torch used fire to 'shave' a beard off a man way back in _Fantastic Four _#4. And it was, of course, Scarface who uttered the immortal line about his 'leetle friend'.

The Fire Nation has skyscrapers? Why not? It was the development of steel that made skyscrapers possible, and the Fire Nation possesses vast metallurgical prowess. Their tanks and some ships appeared, at the very least, to be ironclad, and it's a small step from iron to steel. After the war, it's only natural for the country to shift from war production to construction.

Irma's power of suggestion plus 'bladder bending' = one powerful controller of minds & bodies.

Now you see why Irma picked on Hay Lin earlier (she teased her with the worm and used bladder bending to make Hay Hay run to the toilet). Irma and Hay Lin have been growing apart as each has gravitated towards their fellow elemental (In their months together, Irma got chummy with Katara and Hay Lin became real good friends with Aang). Plus Katara, quite understandably, resents Hay Lin 'intruding' on her special relationship with the young Avatar. Which brings us to the fight we'd like to see (but never will): Katara vs. Hay Lin! Before this chapter, easy money would have been on the water bender. But now? After Hay Lin displayed her fighting chops? It's anyone's guess. And I thought Corny vs. Toph was a good match-up! Everyone's always so nice to each other on these shows. They need some good conflicts to stir things up! Cornelia vs. Toph in Chapter 5 was a natural because both are strong-willed (stubborn) individuals with opposing points of view. Hay Lin vs. Katara could be a real catfight. Or, more likely, a sparring match that escalates and gets out of hand. It's not only Aang's feelings for Hay Lin that drive Katara crazy. (And those feelings appear mild to anyone BUT Katara. Everyone else sees Aang and Hay Lin as purely platonic, almost brother and sister. But that's not how Katara views the relationship). It's also the fact that Katara is a bit of a control freak. She likes being in charge. Look how Katara acted towards Toph when the earth bender joined the GAang and upset their orderly lives in "The Chase". So inserting two powerful girls into the mix is sure to cause fireworks! Unlike the addition of the 'boys' (Haru, Teo, The Duke) in Season 3, who are content to hang out and not do anything to upset the apple cart.

Did Hay Lin really try to kill herself by jumping off the ship, only to get cold feet? Or was she planning to take flight all along? Is it even possible for Hay Lin to commit suicide in this way? These are questions that will have to remain unanswered.

Hay Lin losing it is not one of those tacked-on, ultra-violent out of character events I hate so much in other fanfics. There are reasons both internal (Hay Lin's mind) and external (actions of others, but specifically Zuko) that explain why this happened (including a reason the full scope of which is yet to be revealed).

Granted, Hay Lin is not a violent person. However, we've never seen Aang or the other elemental heroes punch or kick _anybody, _whether bending/using powers or not, and Hay Lin has (she punched Frost in _F is for Facades _and kicked Phobos in _J is for Jewel_). I don't recall Irma, Cornelia or Taranee hitting anyone, although Will was more physical in Season 1 (before she got her electrical/energy powers) and even used a mace once, if memory serves. Hay Lin has shown she's not averse to using violence to solve a villainous problem. Her willingness to use her fists is in her emotional makeup. It is hard to see Hay Hay as a violent individual because she's usually so cheerful, and a real nice person. But it is a part of her. Therefore, it's possible she could let that ugly part of her get out of control. Also, Hay Lin was affected the most by this unwanted trip to the Avatar's world. Her life up till now had been pretty easy, and then she lost her whole world, thrust into an unknown situation without family or friends. And after she's reunited with her friends, she's split from most of them once again. As the youngest and least experienced of the group, she possesses the least confidence and is the most unprepared for such emotional upheaval. In fact, she nearly had a nervous breakdown in the Season 2 episode _T is for Trauma_. And Phobos said she was the weak link in the Guardians. I didn't realize all this about Hay Lin before I wrote the story. Now I like her even more! She's surprisingly complex.

Hay Lin's violent breakdown is well developed, so we understand why it happened. Unlike some other 'heroes who turn to the dark side' I could mention! Are you listening to me, Mary Marvel ruiners at DC Comics? So Mary gets some power and can't handle it? Wow. She's only had Captain Marvel power for, like, years! So of course she wouldn't be able to handle mystical superpowers! It makes perfect sense! (sarcasm intended)

The beating Hay Lin gives Azula is the main reason this story gets a 'T' rating. (Well, Sokka's death and a couple other things, too). You can't tell a story like this with a K or K+ rating. But there's no reason to go over the top with the violence, which is a mistake too many fanfics make. If you limit the violence, it makes it that much more effective when you DO use it.

If Zuko was spying on Hay Lin, Irma and the others through the Heart, is it possible he was behind the Air Guardian's violent beating of Azula? Although I think Hay Lin is responsible for her own actions, it is a plausible explanation for her uncharacteristic behavior, that maybe Zuko's link to her (through the Heart) enabled him to affect her personality - enough to drive her over the edge, anyway. It's also possible that an attempt by Zuko to mess with Hay Lin's mind gave her that headache. We already know the one who possesses the power of the Heart can get in people's dreams, and Zuko was surely behind some of the dreams Aang had, specifically the fire bending training ones with Avatar Roku (but not the last Roku dream, where he warned Aang).

It's appropriate that Azula failed here, like in the _Avatar_ series, by misreading someone. In the TV show, she didn't think Mai or Ty Lee would turn against her, and here, Azula didn't believe Hay Lin had the balls to fight her. Big, BIG mistake! But it's also sort of a tribute to Azula's evil, that she could make a goody-goody like Hay Lin do something so despicable and under-handed. Ironic, no?

Hay Lin was also targeted as the 'weak link' in the comics' Ragorlang saga.

Friendship is one of the main themes of W.I.T.C.H. So it's fitting that it's lack of friendship (Hay Lin's reaction to Azula's deceptive behavior) that brings one of them down to the level of their enemies (but only temporarily, of course).

What this story shows is that, even though Azula can't fire bend and is a one-legged cripple, she's still the most dangerous person in the Fire Nation. Look at what she did to Zuko with a few letters. Or to Hay Lin with a few choice words.

It wouldn't surprise me to find that Koh told Zuko about the dragons the hidden Sun Warriors had, and then Zuko's henchmen stole some of their dragon eggs.

The dragons are riderless to simplify things (then Hay Lin only has to fight the dragon, and not the rider, too). I postulate that the dragons were trained since birth to perform a series of behaviors through reinforcement (much like dolphins and seals are trained). So, they're like guard dogs let off the leash and pointed to the enemy to be attacked. Also, none of the Fire Nation soldiers were man enough to tame a dragon, unlike Iroh or Sozin. So the dragons Hay Lin faces are barely trained, untamed, nearly wild attack dogs! Yipes! Plus, dragons are smarter than dogs! Double yipes!

Momo was not harmed by Azula. Hay Lin was just concerned for his well-being when she jumped Azula.

Momo represents innocence, the dragons represent knowledge/wisdom/maturity, and Azula represents the choice we all make - good or evil.

Let's see…Will punched Azula out, Irma short-circuited her, Taranee defeated her in an Agni Kai, Phobos turned her into a hogmonkey, and now playful Momo and sweet lil' Hay Lin beat her up! It's a good thing she's only fictional, or I'd be…aghkk! Unh….


	11. Invasion Part 3 Zuko Uber Alles

**Author's Note: Invasion, Part 3 - Zuko vs. EVERYBODY! Guess who wins? (Hint: Check the title)**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Chapter 10: Invasion Part 3 - Zuko Uber Alles,

Or,

War. (Yeah yeah yeah yeah!) What Is It Good For?

(Say it again!)

Earlier...

In the Observatory, Fire Lord Zuko met with one of his top aides, Captain of the Guard Zindao.

"So, Captain...Everything is on track? The device is working properly?" Zuko asked.

"Yes, my Lord. All is as you commanded!" Captain Zindao assured his liege.

"Good." Zuko replied, as he walked 'round the mechanical device, pulsing with energies on loan from the purloined Heart of Candracar.

His inspection done, the Candracar-powered Fire Lord ascended through the open skylight into the late afternoon sky.

There was one last thing he needed to check.

Zuko peered in the center of the multi-talented Heart. "What's this??" He liked what he saw. "Ha! Who knew she had it in her? It's almost enough to make me like these 'Guardians'! Such raw, elemental fury..."

"...Almost." His hand closed around the jeweled Heart. Then he continued on his way, intent on keeping his date with destiny.

ooooooooooooooo

Now...

"Don't belittle your accomplishments. It's not worthy of a warrior!" Zuko chastised the upset Air Guardian, grinning in cruel amusement as he said it.

"Leave her alone!" Taranee yelled. "It's over, Zuko! You can't fight all of us!"

Aang, Katara, Toph and Irma circled under the son of Ozai, with the flying Hay Lin and the winged Fire Guardian flanking the floating Fire Lord. Aang, Katara and Toph assumed their bending stances, while the Guardians steeled themselves for the battle to come. All were ready to attack.

"Fight you??" the bemused Zuko responded. "Why would I fight you, when I can do...this!"

At the speed of thought, bands of energy flowed out of Zuko's Heart of Candracar and wrapped around each of the heroes, immobilizing them!

And not just any energy, but _sticky, _unbreakable energy!

"W, what is this stuff??" Aang yelped, as he struggled in vain. "It won't come off!"

"I can't move!" Katara cried.

And if benders can't move, they can't perform any bending.

Towing the trapped freedom fighters to a large, empty room with a picture window overlooking the city, Zuko attached the stuck heroes to wooden interior walls and remarked "I thought you'd go to my new Palace, but this will do."

"You have another Palace?? How many do you need, anyway? What do you do, rent them out for weddings?" Irma cracked, using humor to keep the group's spirits up.

"Enough! I'd advise you not to try anything, or your stay here could get very unpleasant!" the Fire Lord sternly warned the Water Guardian.

"Try anything? Why would you think I'd try anything??" the flabbergasted Irma Lair denied the accusation.

"Oh, I have my reasons." Zuko informed her, staring at the water dripping off the energy construct that held Irma to the wall. Irma conjured up water to fill the space between her and the sticky energy, hoping to use it's lubrication to slip out of her bonds.

With a slashing motion, Zuko summoned an arc of fire that vaporized the puddle of water around Irma's feet.

"Hey!!" Irma howled.

"Quiet!" Fire Lord Zuko menacingly barked. "Or else!!"

Then Zuko walked over to the other side of the room where the benders were held.

"Hello, Avatar." he said, in a voice dripping with false friendliness. "I've been looking forward to seeing you again."

"What do you want, Zuko?!" Aang said, coldly staring at his one-time pursuer.

"Heh. You'll find out!" Zuko replied, laughing in a most sinister way.

Then the Fire Lord walked out of the room, leaving the captured freedom fighters to stew about their fate.

"Wow. He really is as bad as you said, Taranee!" Toph whined. "And held up like this, I can't feel anything! I think it's time for some Avatar State action, Twinkletoes!" Toph requested.

"No, Toph. I don't think that would be the best thing right now." Aang was extremely hesitant to use the awesome, and uncontrollable, power of the Avatar State. "I mean, we don't even know what Zuko wants!" Aang didn't want to possibly make things even worse, a fact picked up by most in attendance.

"Hey, it's your funeral!" Toph retorted.

"What can we do??" Katara moaned. "After everything we've been through, I can't believe it ends like this!!"

"No." Tara responded in a strong, defiant tone. "It's not over. Not yet!"

"But..." Hay Lin quizzically uttered.

"Shhh. Silently." the Guardian of Fire admonished her colleague.

Telepathically, Guardians Taranee, Irma and Hay Lin had a private conference.

_We can beat this guy! _Taranee thought-communicated to Irma and Hay Lin._ Think this through. Who did Zuko target? Who did he take out first, and keep locked up?_

_Will. _Irma thought-replied.

_Exactly! Why? What can she do we can't?? _the Guardian of Fire thought-asked.

_Energy?_ Hay Lin thought-offered.

_Right. And what element is most like energy? What did Will toss around like toothpicks? Lightning! If we had lightning, I bet we could fry these bonds! _Taranee telepathically assured her Guardian companions.

Too late, our heroes realized one thing could have stopped Zuko, or at least given him pause: The wild, chaotic energy generated by fire benders. Lightning!

_Well. We screwed the pooch on that one! We turned down the only person who could zap thunderbolts!_ Irma thought-commented.

Hay Lin hung her head in shame at Irma's unthinking reference to her incapacitation of the Fire Princess.

_No._ thought Taranee, noting the distress on the face of her friend._ We never needed Azula!_

_Huh?_ the confused Irma thought-uttered.

Returning from his break, Zuko was surprised to find a storm raging in the room where he left the six invaders.

Then, from out of the thundercloud pushing against the ceiling, a lightning bolt erupted!

In a flash of light and the crack of thunder, amid the smell of fried ozone, the bolt shattered the energy bands holding the Guardians!

"We can make our own lightning, Zuko!" the free-flying Taranee announced. Back when they fought the Kaithim on Meridian, Taranee, Irma and Hay Lin defeated it by crafting their own thunderstorm. "You can't stop us now!!" the Guardian of Fire confidently declared.

"We'll see about that!" Zuko retorted. "I beat you before!" he boasted, as he tossed a giant fireball at the winged Fire Guardian.

But instead of defensively forming a fireshield, which is what Zuko expected of the non-Fire Nation 'fire bender', the Keeper of Fire flew right at the Lord of Fire! Taranee had obviously learned a thing or two about how fire benders fight while stationed in the Fire Lands, and agreed that the best defense is a good offense!

"Uh uh! No more!!" Taranee exclaimed. She grabbed the Fire Lord with flaming hands and sought to do to him what she did to Azula and so many others! "Let's see how well you handle the Heart without any fire bending!"

There was a scream.

But it wasn't Zuko's!

"I was thinking the same thing!" Zuko sneered. "You never should have had fire abilities! You're nothing like fire! Far too calm and rational." Zuko, quite pleased with himself, brutally commented as Taranee's wings and higher energy Guardian form were violently ripped from her. Shocked into unconsciousness by the rough treatment, Tara dropped helplessly to the floor. "Now you're nothing more than a lowly fire bending novice, as you should be!"

"Now then..." Zuko scanned the area around him, then grabbed at seemingly empty air! "Got ya!" he yelled. "That didn't work the first time you tried it! What made you think it'd work now?" he teased the now-visible Hay Lin as she strained to free her right arm from his vise-like grip! "You're pathetic!" Zuko berated her. "Not an Air Nomad. Never a member of that proud race! And not an Air Warrior, either. Hmphh! You're not worthy of darning their socks!"

"Shut up!" Hay Lin yelled, in a voice equal parts pain, shame and rage. Then she formed a 'funnel fist', a mini-tornado around her left hand, and struck Zuko in the face!

Taken aback by the unexpected blow, the Fire Lord dropped his prey.

But he quickly recovered.

"You have a new trick, eh?" Zuko said, in mock admiration of the Air Guardian hovering in front of him.

"Hay Lin!" Irma screamed. "Move!!"

"Me too!" Zuko bragged.

Instantly, energy shot out of the Heart and wrapped itself around Hay Lin! Zuko, using the Candracar energy tether like a lariat, swung the petite Asian girl right at Irma!

"I can't get a fix..." the Guardian of Water spat out, before she was bowled over by the hurtling form of her friend!

"These girls are more trouble than I thought!" Fire Lord Zuko ruefully observed as he eyed his unconscious foes.

"And you still haven't beat them!" Katara railed at their antagonist from across the room. "Irma said Cornelia escaped from that garden trap you put her in!"

"The Plant Spirit?" Zuko walked over to his talkative target and considered the idea. Then he smiled. "Ha! What's she going to do?? We're seven stories up!"

_Knock knock_

Zuko wheeled at the sound. It was coming from the wall. The wood wall. The wall that had...a large pair of eyes on it?!?

"What the??" Zuko uttered.

Right before two tree limbs launched out of the wall and smacked into the Lord of Fire, sending him sailing into the next room!

"Anyone home?" the intruder quipped. The two tree limbs retracted, pulled back to a she-plant _thing _that emerged from out of the wall itself.

"Cornelia?? Wow!!" the pleasantly startled Aang gasped. "But how?"

"I have spies everywhere!" she joked, indicating the plant growing out of the crack in the building's facade outside that crept up past the window.

"I thought Irma said you were human again?" quizzed Katara.

"I'm kind of both." the lass with leaves in her golden hair and skin the color of chlorophyll answered. She appeared to be a hybrid - part person and part plant. Although human-sized, and definitely a girl, Cornelia retained aspects of her vegetative state.

"I don't care what you look like, as long as you get me out of this!" Toph exclaimed.

"Sure, Toph!" Cornelia took a step toward the three captives, then hesitated. "After I finish with Zuko! I may have put him down, but I don't think he's out!"

"Then you'll come back and get me, right?" Toph implored as the former Earth Guardian exited the room.

Only to be 'escorted' back by Zuko moments later, wrapped in a ball of energy that not even Cornelia could escape!

"Stop fighting me!" the Fire Lord bitched. "You don't want to wind up like your friends, do you?" he threatened, pointing to the passed out bodies of Taranee, Irma and Hay Lin in the adjoining space.

"**WHAT?!!**" Cornelia raged. What you did to me was bad enough! But hurting my friends?! _Really _bad move!!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. 'You don't want to get her mad'!" Zuko mimicked what he said when he scared his Royal Guards.

"Now you're making fun of me? Do you have a death wish?? Don't you know what I am?!?" the for real Plant Spirit shouted.

At her silent command, vines shot through the floor, vines that grew all the way _through _the building, seven floors up, from the soil beneath it, and covered Zuko in an impenetrable mass of plantflesh!

Those same vines squeezed the energy bubble holding Cornelia. Zuko, obviously distracted, lost control of his construct and it shattered!

"**Enough!!**" Fire Lord Zuko screamed, as the energy from the Heart of Candracar expanded until it burst his green prison!

"You think I don't know how to handle spirits?" he asked, not seeking a response since it was a rhetorical question. Zuko chortled, and levitated the spiritcatcher he had earlier used to trap Aang and Irma during the Day of Black Sun invasion.

But Cornelia's barrage of rocks taken from the stone floor destroyed the intricate, metallic 'catcher, smashing it into little bits!

"You were saying?" she challenged the Fire Lord. "I finally have enough power to stand against you, Zuko! You have a lot to answer for!"

Zuko, energized by the Heart of Infinity, and Cornelia, a living Spirit, were almost evenly matched in raw power.

"Give up, Cornelia!" Zuko demanded. "I have the Heart! You can't beat me! I don't want you or your Guardian friends. Agree to leave the Fire Nation, and I'll let you take all of them with you, including Will!" he grudgingly offered.

"Let you keep the Heart of Candracar, and ignore whatever nastiness you have planned for Aang and the rest?" Cornelia testily responded. "Not a chance!! I'm not leaving until I end your madness once and for all!"

With a thought, the Earth Guardian's soft human/plant limbs grew an 'armor' of tree bark, protection for when she would stride into battle against the out of control Lord of the Fire Nation.

But this was merely a ruse.

A distraction.

Cornelia wanted to draw Zuko's attention away from the plant stalk creeping up behind him, a plant with one goal - to snatch the Heart from Zuko!

"Then you leave me no choice..." Zuko glumly replied, seemingly oblivious to his peril.

With a wave of his hand, the Fire Lord caused Corny's sneaking stalk to burst into flame!

Followed by Cornelia herself!

As the hungry fire consumed Cornelia's wooden tree-like limbs...burned her body...melted her face...

**"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"**

...The 'Plant Spirit' howled in anguish, loud enough to wake the Spirits, and then disappeared.

There was nothing left of her.

Except ashes.

"You monster!!" Katara cried. "How, how could you kill Cornelia like that?!"

"I didn't want to do it, but you heard her! She wouldn't listen! She wouldn't stop!" Zuko vainly tried to defend himself.

To the surprise of Aang, Katara and Toph, the former Prince actually sounded upset, even remorseful!

Katara and Aang wondered what had happened to this boy who, although he did relentlessly pursue the Avatar, exhibited _some _honor in his dealings with them.

What had driven him to murder??

"Zuko, you...you don't have to do this." Katara gently said, in an effort to reach the person underneath the cold persona of the Fire Lord. "Whatever you're trying to do, this is the wrong way to go about it. What is it you want? Tell us. Aang and I will help you. You must know that."

"No." Ursa's son rejected the kind offer, then turned bitter and acrimonious. "You don't understand! He did this, and there's only one way to fix it!!" Lord Zuko raged.

"Fix what? Who did this?? Zuko?" Katara fished for a response, but the stern Fire Lord kept his own counsel.

"Zuko, please..." Aang begged. "If I've done anything to offend you, tell me. We can solve it. Together."

"I..." Zuko hesitated. His anger passed, replaced by guilt and recrimination. Could he have been wrong? Was there another solution??

Then fate, as they say, intervened.

Outside the window, the empty building across the way...began to sway and shake.

"What the?" a puzzled Zuko pondered. "I don't feel any tremors. Why would..."

Then the tower fell over, and the top of it crashed through the window, the explosively decomposing concrete plowing with unstoppable force into the Fire Lord!

Buried under the rubble, black and blue with various injuries, Zuko struggled to free himself.

Then, the rubble gathered together, forming a vague shape of a person.

Finally, 'it' picked 'it's' head up and spoke!

"Moron!" said the enraged creature, now revealed to be Cornelia, in a voice that sounded like rocks grinding on rocks. "You can't burn me out of existence!! I'm connected to the whole world! As long as it exists, you can't stop me!"

Cornelia the rock creature constructed giant fists out of the chunks of concrete strewn about and slammed them into the Fire Lord!

Zuko quickly put up an energy shield to protect him from the blows. "Unfff!" Zuko gasped. "He said you were hard to kill. What a way to find out!"

"Who told you that?" Katara sought an answer to the mystery. "Zuko?"

But the Keeper of the Heart had other things on his mind.

Like survival! The She-Mountain didn't relent in her assault!

"Just means I'll have to deal with you differently!" the unusually confident Zuko declared.

Wrapping the Candracar energy of the Heart around him, Zuko ignored the concrete behemoth trying to make him into a wet splotch on the floor and summoned the transformative powers of the Heart.

He shined its light upon Cornelia, and she changed.

Shrank.

Became less rocky, and more girl.

Until only the girl remained.

"You're right. I can't destroy the world." Zuko coolly explained. "But what about that connection to the earth? What happens if I separate you from it?"

"What? No!!!" the shocked Cornelia yelled, staring in disbelief at her hands, which refused to change into branches or stone. "I can't feel the earth anymore! It, it's gone!"

"Can you feel this?" Zuko icily replied. Then he slapped her in the face, and Corny fell hard onto the rough floor. She hit her head, and was instantly knocked out!

"Hey! Leave my girlfriend alone!" a new voice yelled.

It was Caleb!

Cornelia, after her 'plant spy' found out where Aang was trapped, couldn't wait for Caleb anymore and went on ahead. But she did leave him a note.

"Ah. The boyfriend, I presume. What can you do to stop me?" Zuko teased the very human teenager from Meridian.

"I don't know! But I won't give up until I do!" Caleb unsheathed his sword from its scabbard and went at the Fire Lord with all his might!

Zuko, behind another Heart-formed shield, tried to keep from falling asleep. "Hmm. You display a certain skill with that blade. And I haven't had a decent challenge in a long time! How about a duel?" he suggested. "I promise I won't use any bending!" he added, thinking the enticement would get him the battle he craved.

"Are you insane??" Caleb cried, as he swung at the teen ruler again and again! "Do you think this is a game??"

"Why does everyone always say I'm crazy??" the obsessive Fire Lord spat, as he moved, shield and all, towards a weapons display hung on a wall. "Everything I've done up to now has been perfectly rational! Ah. Here are my swords." Zuko seized the twin blades off the wall and dropped his energy barrier. "I'll have you know I am a master at duo swords. Shields are for lesser men! Haaa!" he ran at Caleb, slashing with the sharp edges of both swords!

Caleb rolled out of the way of the aggressive Fire National's attack, and grabbed a metal shield from another weapons display to defend himself!

"I'm kinda partial to shields myself!" Caleb quipped, Zuko's sword thrust halted by the outstretched metal disc. "Goes with the whole 'keeping my head' thing!"

"So, how long have you known Cornelia?" Zuko calmly asked, as he blocked Caleb's return slash by holding his duo Dao swords before him in an 'X' formation.

"You want to gossip? During a fight???" the incredulous Caleb voiced as he leaped backwards to escape being impaled by Zuko's fancy swordwork!

"She is the only thing we have in common. Unless you want to talk about something else?" Zuko offered, slicing at Caleb's legs first with one blade, and then the other, causing the rebel leader to alternately hop on each foot.

"We do not 'have Cornelia in common'!" a visibly annoyed Cal responded. He then jumped right on top of Zuko, whose previous move left him briefly open.

Caleb's shieldarm held down one of Zuko's blades, while the determined Meridianite tried to force his sword into his opponent, but the Fire Lord blocked him with his free blade.

Zuko, slightly taller and stronger than Caleb, used his superior strength to his advantage and pushed the Meridian boy off of him!

"She didn't tell you about me?" Zuko grinned as he faced off against the rebel leader.

"Nothing to tell!" Caleb snapped, as he ran at the former Prince and struck Zuko's left sword as hard as he could with his shield, sending the Dao sword clattering to the floor some distance away.

Caleb the master fighter immediately followed up that small victory with a quick drive to the heart of his foe, but the Fire Lord expertly parried the attack with his remaining broadsword.

Cal sought to press his advantage over his one-bladed, shieldless opponent, and charged once more!

The agile Zuko jumped out of the way, and quipped "So, you don't know Cornelia kissed me?"

"What??" the momentarily stunned Caleb gasped. He lost sight of what he was doing for a split second, and ran into the wooden wall with his sword!

As the freedom fighter struggled to release his weapon from its cruel embrace, Zuko struck Caleb with the flat of his blade!

"Too easy!" Zuko commented as Caleb faded into unconsciousness.

"Anyone else?" the victorious Fire Lord joked. He was clearly enjoying himself.

"I'll show you what else!" yelled a girl who knocked over Zuko by tackling him! "This is how my brother does it on the football team!"

"Are you nuts??" the surprised Zuko responded, easily tossing his assailant off him.

It was Taranee!

"You may have taken my powers away, but you haven't stopped us!" she declared. Behind her, Hay Lin and Irma also got up off the floor.

"You're crazy! I beat you!! You have no chance of victory!!" Zuko railed.

Irma coldly eyed the Fire Lord. He'd pay for what he did to her and her friends!

"This fight is over!" Zuko angrily exclaimed. "So get lost!"

Then he seized Taranee with the energy from the Heart of Candracar and tossed her out the window!

The former Fire Guardian screamed, and Hay Lin immediately ran to her aid!

"I'm coming, Taranee!" the Air Guardian shouted as she leapt out the high-rise Palace's opening! "I'm sorry, Aang!" she yelled, her voice fading as she fell farther and farther away.

"That does it!!" Irma screamed, then tried to calm her anger so she could focus her mind- and body-controlling power.

"What are you going to do, water girl?" Zuko sneered, unaware of the Water Guardian's abilities.

_I'll show you! _she thought to herself.

But Zuko wasn't finished messing with the outworlder heroes, whom he despised!

The Heart flashed, and illuminated the outside of the building for a couple seconds.

"There!" Zuko smiled cruelly. "I just took away the air girl's flying powers! Now who's going to save your friend??"

"You're lying!!" Irma roared. "You, you can't do that!" Hay Lin wasn't in her winged Guardian form, like Taranee was, Irma reasoned.

"Care to take that chance?" Zuko grinned. "How do you think I defeated your friend Cornelia the Plant Spirit?" he added, indicating the fallen form of Cornelia Hale lying on the cold floor. "Or maybe you'd like to take a shot at me instead while your friends die? Go ahead. I won't stop you!" The Fire Lord teased, enjoying his cruel mind games.

Irma wanted to wipe Zuko's smirk off his face in the worst way!

She wanted her revenge, to make the Fire Lord pay for all the pain and suffering he had visited upon the Guardians of Candracar!

Irma truly hated Zuko. Zuko, who captured her friends. Zuko, who turned one into a plant! Zuko, who caused Irma to almost betray her new friends!

Irma hated Zuko with a passion! More than anything in the world! And to have an opportunity to wipe that s***-eating grin off his face was all she could wish for!

Plus, if she defeated the maniacal Fire Lord she could stop the war! Irma would be a hero!

Or she could save her friends.

Framed that way, it was no argument at all. There was only one thing Irma could do.

So the Water Guardian bolted for the seventh-story window and launched herself into space! "I'm coming, Hay Hay!"

"That goes for the rest of you, too!" Zuko barked. "Get out!!"

The Heart-wielding Fire Lord scooped up the unconscious Cornelia, the recovering Caleb, who was attempting to rise from the floor, and the extraneous benders he didn't need with a giant energy 'shovel' and flung them out of the Palace!

They fell, seemingly to their doom!

Then the now fully conscious Caleb saw what awaited them below.

Zuko covered the entire exterior of the Palace tower in the energy of the Heart!

The same _sticky _energy Zuko had used to trap Aang and the rest lay like a shroud on the wall and the base of the building!

Hay Lin, Taranee and Irma were below, sitting unharmed on the side of the structure, their hands and feet attached to the energy web like spider-people so they wouldn't fall as they inched their way down!

The three Guardians extended their hands to grasp the plummeting Caleb, Toph, and Cornelia, but Zuko's rash act had thrown them too far out! They were going to miss the soft landing!

Instantly, Caleb saw what he had to do!

"Toph! Grab my hand!!" he yelled.

"What?!?" Toph screamed back.

Toph's use of her earth bending vibration 'sense' was so expert, it was easy to forget she was blind. But it was a bad time for Caleb to overlook that important fact, because it made the situation even worse!

Straining to reach the sightless earth bender, Caleb had to take his attention away from the knocked out Cornelia, who was in equally dire straits!

He grabbed ahold of the smaller of the 'women in his life', his 'mom', Toph, and swung her close enough to the building's wall that Irma was able to snare the Bei Fong lass!

Then Caleb angled his streamlined body to catch the edge of the energy sheath's kinetic-dampening protective envelope, hoping any impact would be diluted enough to break his fall without breaking him!

He landed fast and hard, but escaped serious injury, and bounced...

...right under Cornelia's nosediving form!

Though the jarring impact with the solid, unyielding ground knocked the stuffing out of the Meridian rebel, to Caleb, it was worth it, because his lady love was safe!

Then he passed out.

Rushing down the wall of the Palace, Hay Lin, Taranee and Irma (with Toph in tow) ran to the side of their friends!

"Are they okay?" Irma nervously inquired, as Taranee examined the two sweethearts, and best friends of the Guardians.

"Yeah, they should be fine." the former Fire Guardian responded. "Just a little winded, I think. I..."

"Ooooohh..." Cornelia groaned.

"Corny! You're okay!!" Irma happily shouted.

"Yeah. I'm..." Cornelia retorted. Then she shuddered, and her face froze in fear. "He took my powers away!"

"Zuko did the same thing to Hay Lin, but we can still kick his butt!" Irma exclaimed.

"Um, I don't think so!" the wingless Taranee pointed out. The Fire Lord had covered his _entire _Palace in the unbreakable, impenetrable energy of the Heart of Candracar! "Looks like he doesn't want any more visitors!"

"Oh no!!" Cornelia shouted. She had finally gotten up and noticed the state of her boyfriend. "Caleb!!"

She pleaded and begged for him to wake up, but there was no response!

"Ah, I think we have bigger problems." Toph pulled on Irma's tunic top. "I can't earth bend anymore! Zuko took that away, too!"

"But he can't..." Irma looked at her hands and tried to conjure water. No go.

"Great!" Taranee bitched. "None of us have our powers! Trapped in the Fire Nation's capital, with a war on! The greatest magical item in existence in the hands of a madman! What else could go wrong?!"

"I really wish you wouldn't say things like that!" Irma snapped. But this time, she wasn't trying to be funny.

"There's something else we haven't considered." the unusually perceptive blind girl noted. "If Zuko was only after Aang because he's the Avatar, and he kicked us all out...where's Katara?"

The sighted heroes looked around. Katara was nowhere to be found!

"Oh no..." Irma gasped, and peered up at the impossible-to-enter tower where the crazy a$$ Zuko undoubtedly had something terrible planned for the water bender!

"Oh, and you're going to love this!" Toph sarcastically said. "Someone's coming!"

"But, Toph, if you don't have your earth bending, how can you...?" Hay Lin uttered.

"What, you can't hear that?" Toph Bei Fong interjected. "Sounds like boots! Military boots!"

The Guardians knew they were in far more trouble than they'd ever been before!

And it was only going to get worse before it'd get better.

Far, _far _worse!

Meanwhile, in the observatory, Zuko's scientists and astronomers huddled around the telescope, impatiently waiting for a break in the persistent cloud cover.

Finally, a window opened up.

They gazed through the giant optical instrument and shouted excitedly.

The comet was back!

A day early!!

_Next:_

_Zuko has Aang (and Katara) right where he wants them!_

_Now what?_

_What insidious evil does he intend to perpetrate on our heroes?_

_Zutara lovers may be heartened by the fact Zuko's going to spend time with the Water Tribe girl,_

_but after this chapter they may sing a different tune!_

_It's going to make the Hay Lin chapter look like a clambake!_

_Just a friendly warning, that's all._

_What about the others?_

_Well, the Guardians (& Toph) have problems of their own as, powerless,_

_they face off against the Fire Nation Army and the mysterious leader of the Third Way!_

_Expect a big 'stand up and cheer' moment when …_

_But that would be telling! _

_Plus:_

_The secret of the Ancient Avatar is revealed!_

_Wait till you learn who's really responsible for this whole mess!_

_It's a shocker supreme!_

_And:_

_Who is the Hooded Man?_

_And what does he mean for our cast??_

_Find out more clues to his identity in our next action-packed chapter!_

_Finally:_

_Hay Lin._

_Cornelia._

_Katara._

_One of these heroes will die in our next installment!_

_(Don't believe me?_

_Sokka already kicked the bucket in this tale!_

_So don't be so sure it won't happen!)_

Notes

'Zuko Uber Alles' means 'Zuko over all'. The German national anthem during World War II was popularly known as "Deutschland über alles", although this was never its title. The Nazis appropriated the song during the war, so the present republic of Germany only uses the third, non-threatening, verse, which doesn't have the 'Deutschland über alles' line. Zuko thinks he was supposed to be the Avatar/Chosen One, while believing Aang unworthy of being the Avatar. So, a reference to the Nazis, with their incredible hatred of the Jews (the 'chosen people') seemed called for, in addition to the obvious meaning of Zuko triumphing over all his enemies.

The missing verse from "War" is 'Absolutely nothing!'

Saddam had many Palaces, also. The Post-Ozai Fire Nation reminds me of countries where, after the tyrant is kicked out, a new person takes over but the place is still pretty messed up and the question is, is this new leader strong enough to meet the severe challenges they face?

Taranee, Irma and Hay Lin devised their thunderstorm/lightning stratagem when they fought the Kaithim in W.I.T.C.H. Season 1, Episode 23, "The Battle of Meridian Plains".

Zuko previously fought the Guardians in Chapters 20 & 21 of _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar._

I'm not sure if Peter, Taranee's brother, is on his high school's (American) football team, but he looks big enough to be. Plus, he's a smart guy, so he'd do well in that sport.


	12. Finale Part 1 The Dark Avatar

**Author's Note: First up is the final installment of the Ancient Avatar. His story is very important to this chapter (especially the shocker near the end! Wait till you see Irma's reaction!) Also, Zuko has Aang right where he wants him! (But what's Katara doing there??) Meanwhile, the Guardians have problems of their own as they have to get past a small army of fire benders to save Will, and they don't have their elemental abilities to help them! **

**Plus: You'll want to stand up and cheer when...but that would be telling. Oh, and there's the matter of a cast member dying.**

**WARNING: If brutal, despicable acts performed on a beloved hero upsets you, read no further!**

**This is high stakes drama, and if you can't handle it, you may as well leave.**

**Even though, if you do, you'll miss an excellent story!**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

A Long Time Ago...

_Taro was cleaning the stable of his master, the Avatar's, sky bison, when suddenly the flying animal crashed through the wall!_

_"Oh no! Something must have happened to the Avatar!" Taro surmised. "Peachie, can you lead me to him?"_

_Though Taro had been forbidden by the Avatar to ride his air bison, this was an emergency! (Plus, he knew chicks totally dug air riding!) So Taro climbed on Peachie's back, grabbed the reins and used the words he heard the Avatar speak to command the great flying beast. "Uh, Peachie, erp erp!" _

_Peachie lifted off so quickly, Taro almost fell off the beast's back. "Whoops!" he reflexively uttered. "Ahhh! Oh my spirits!" he screamed, like a little girl, as Peachie soared into the sky. Which was understandable. Taro was new to sky bison riding, after all._

_After sailing through the sky for a bit, Peachie brought Taro to the site in the forest where the Avatar had been caught._

_Taro was stunned!_

_There, lying in a clearing, was the Avatar - broken and bloody, prone in the dirt, next to the still body of a man Taro recognized as that of a villager! (There was also a strange object nearby: A giant metal ring, cleaved in two. Taro didn't know what to make of it, so he focused on what he could do for his employer)._

_Taro jumped off the air bison and sprinted towards the unconscious Avatar._

_"Master? What happened??" Taro said as he attempted to rouse the injured bender of the four elements._

_"Taro? What?" the Avatar gasped as he regained consciousness._

_"I'm here, Master! Peachie and I will get you to safety!" Taro confidently announced._

_"No. Taro...You must save them!" the Avatar pleaded._

_"Save who, Master? I don't understand?!" the boy, shaken by the Avatar's odd words, replied._

_"My...my wife. My children, Taro! Koh's coming for them! And I am too weak. Please, Taro! Promise me!" _

_Taro had never heard the Avatar ask for anything, so to hear him now, begging for assistance, was...disturbing. Very disturbing!_

_"Y, yes, of course, Master!" Taro assured the Avatar. "I'll do everything I can!"_

_Then the Avatar's eyes acquired a strange, glassy appearance. It frightened the teen, but what could he do about it? Taro didn't understand what was going on, or what the Avatar wanted of him! And who the heck was Koh???_

_"I've been such a fool." the Avatar said to no one in particular._

_"Master?" Taro uttered._

_"I fear the end. I cannot go out like this! Reincarnation cannot assuage what I feel." the Avatar talked to himself. "I've let down so many! I...hurt so many. My shame is so great. I would need several lifetimes to even attempt to make up for what I've done!"_

_"Are you okay, sir?" Taro gently asked. Taro feared madness was now overtaking the Avatar. And possibly himself, as well. Was the Avatar...starting to glow?_

_"I've lost so many, and thought I could console myself with material things. But, great as my grief was, it would be as nothing compared to the grief I would feel if the unthinkable happened!" The Avatar rambled on, heedless of his audience. "Yes! Look at me! The greatest of Avatars! None that ever lived could match my power! I believed all of the elements danced to my tune, and all four nations should bow before me. And yet...I was brought low with one simple thing...love!"_

_No, more than a glow, Taro realized. The Avatar was now covered in a corona of light!_

_Then the diminished Avatar half-jumped/half-fell at the boy, and grabbed him with what little strength his wounded arms could muster!_

_"But you will save them, Taro!" the Avatar yelled._

_Light silently, yet violently, exploded all around! When the light gave way once more to the encroaching darkness, the Avatar lay on the ground. But Taro was nowhere in sight._

Chapter 11: Finale Part 1 - The Dark Avatar,

Or,

Oh You Nasty Boys!

_Four Years Ago..._

_The grief-stricken Iroh traveled to the Spirit World in a vain attempt to contact Lu Ten, his dearly departed son._

_Instead of the hoped for reunion, the son of Azulon received an important message from the denizens of that mysterious realm._

_"You must mentor the Avatar." a council of Spirits told him._

_"But the Avatar's gone! He vanished 100 years ago!" Iroh protested._

_"No. He lives, and will return. But that is not important. You are required to train the next Avatar." the leader of the Spirits, Hei Bai, informed Iroh._

_"What? The __next__...?? But why me, celestial ones??" the very confused General bade them speak._

_"Because you already know him. And there are those who seek to prevent or alter his destiny…" Hei Bai stated._

"…_The next Avatar is Prince Zuko."_

ooooooooooooooo

_Four Months Ago..._

_"And if I do this, I can re-claim my destiny and be the Avatar?" the Prince asked the ancient Spirit._

_"Yes. As long as Aang activates the chakras." Koh replied. _

_"How can you be so sure?" Zuko grilled his Spirit benefactor._

"_Foolish mortal! Did I not instruct you on how to use that fabulous jewel you possess?" the multi-faceted, multi-legged Spirit shot back. _

"_Well, yes, but…" Zuko sheepishly replied._

"_And was I not present at the birth of the Avatar? I know all his secrets!" Koh bragged._

"_If you say so." The skeptic in Zuko re-asserted himself. Could he really trust this inscrutable Spirit? Then the feeling passed, and his desires came once more to the forefront. "Tell me of these chakras." he humbly requested._

ooooooooooooooo

Four hours ago, in a Fire Nation bar in Capital City...

The hooded man sought refuge from the madness in the streets, the chaotic, war-torn nature of the city, by slipping into a still open bar.

But he wasn't the only one to have that idea.

Many others gathered there, also, but the cloaked one's attention drifted to two men seated at the bar.

"Zuko may think he's in charge now, but our leader has something special planned for him when the comet arrives!" one of the men said.

"Yeah! Third Way rules!" the second man cheered, raising his glass in celebration.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation." the hooded man politely said. "What dire fate do you have planned for the Fire Lord?"

"Who are you?? A spy?!?" the first angrily responded, breaking his glass to use as a weapon against the intruder.

"Hey, I recognize him!" the second exclaimed, the candlelight illuminating the hooded one's features. "He's one of those losers that used to run the country!" he added, chuckling as he said it.

"I can never get them straight!" his friend remarked, a big grin on his face. "Is he the loser that gave up at Ba Sing Se because his widdle boy died, or the one that lost his crown after a little girl kicked his keister?"

"Ha ha ha ha!" both men laughed.

"I may not be what I once was..." the cloaked man sternly replied "...But I am still more than a match for the likes of you!" he declared, tearing off his cloak to display rippling muscles, but leaving the hood on his head.

After thrashing his opponents with minimal effort, the hooded one demanded "Now tell me what your leader plots against Zuko!"

ooooooooooooooo

Now...

In the early evening radiance of the Fire Nation glow rock lamps (made all the eerier by the fact that the clouds that blotted out the sun caused evening to arrive sooner than normal), the powerless Taranee, Irma, Toph, Cornelia and Hay Lin considered their options, however limited, as military forces approached them in the war-ready armed camp known as the nerve center of the Fire Nation's government in Capital City, the Red Zone.

"What do we do?" Hay Lin whined.

"We have to go!" Taranee, taking charge, ordered. "Right now!!"

But one would not be moved.

Cornelia, who insisted on staying by the side of her injured love, Caleb.

"I can't leave him!" the former Earth Guardian cried, tears flowing. "Not now!"

"But, Cornelia...Will's still trapped out there..." the former Fire Angel argued. "...If we don't free her, we won't be able to stop Zuko from doing whatever insane evil he has planned, or end the war!"

"Don't you think I know that?!!" Cornelia spat, more hurt than angry. "I know what we have to do, but Caleb came all this way to this world to save me!! I can't abandon him now! I just can't." she sobbed.

"Well, I hope someone knows how to spin a good yarn, 'cause it's gonna take some story to convince these Fire Nation guys to let us go!" Toph humorlessly cracked.

"It doesn't sound like a whole army is coming!" Irma said. "So get in your stance and act like you're going to hit them with that crazy kung fu of yours!" she added, jumping around, waving her arms and generally acting like Bruce Lee on speed!

Toph did assume a bending form even though she, like the rest, had their powers taken from them by Zuko. However...

"Ah...other way, Toph!" Irma, embarrassed, corrected the blind, former earth bender by turning her around.

Taranee, Irma, Hay Lin and Toph huddled there, ready to pounce, but...

...They weren't prepared for what happened next!

"Cornelia?" said the one, lone girl in a Fire Nation army uniform after she turned the corner.

Cornelia Hale looked up from her vigil beside Caleb, squinted in disbelief and replied "Jun??"

"It's so good to see you!" Cornelia said, as the two girls embraced in a sisterly hug and gabbed excitedly. "How are things with your parents?"

"Smoking!" Jun Yi replied, using Fire Nation teen slang for good/great. "What about you?"

"Could be better." Corny answered, massively understating the present predicament.

Their social interaction prompted Irma to state the obvious. "Wait...You two know each other??"

"I met Jun a couple of months ago." Corny explained.

"I'm a big fan of the Plant Spi-, I mean, Cornelia, and when I saw what Zuko did to her with that garden thing I was really bummed I couldn't help her! So after I heard she got free, I started looking for her, and here I am!" Jun Yi happily shouted.

"Yeah. Here you are." Irma uttered, trying (and failing) to hide her feelings of envy that Cornelia was partying with cool girls in the Fire Nation while she and Hay Lin were stuck with the likes of nose-picker Toph, way too much makeup-wearer Suki and the _real fun _(sarcasm intended) guys of the Allied Army!

"Well, that's nice, but it doesn't change anything. We still have to retrieve Will!" Taranee logically spelled out the facts of the matter.

"But, Caleb..." Cornelia reiterated, gazing sadly at her unconscious lover.

"Looks like he needs healing." Jun stated. Then she snapped her fingers. "Hey! I know! I'll take him to a med tent and tell them he's wearing those clothes because he's a special undercover operative! I have pull with some of the guys here, so it'll work!"

"You'd do that?? Oh, thank you, Jun!" Cornelia returned the Fire Nation teen's generosity with another hug. "You don't know what a relief that is!"

"It's the least I can do after you helped me!" Jun commented. "I'll stay with him as long as I can. I have some time to kill before my superiors start wondering where I am. Cornelia, you take care of whatever you and your friends have to do, and don't worry!" Jun confidently assured the blonde from Heatherfield.

"I won't! Thanks again, Jun!" said the smiling Corny as she waved goodbye.

"So, how big is your fanclub?" Irma sarcastically asked as the group went on their way.

"Oh, stop it, Irma!" Cornelia refused to allow the mouthy Miss Lair to puncture her good mood. "The kind of 'bending' I do, with plants, is unusual on this world! You know that. That's why they treat me like a rock star at times. It's not personal!"

"Yeah, I can see you really hate it!" Irma dead-panned.

ooooooooooooooo

Chakra 1: Fear

In the debris-strewn Palace of the Fire Lord, now sealed from the outside world (and protected from outworlder interlopers like the Guardians) by the awesome energy of the Heart of Candracar, the present Fire Lord, Zuko, strutted like a zebracock in front of his captives, Aang and Katara, who were held to the wall, unable to move a muscle, by that same Candracan energy.

"Zuko, I can't believe you just did that!" Aang exclaimed. "Tossing the others out the window from such a height...You could have killed them!"

"Stop your moaning!" Zuko scoffed. "Those Guardians have the annoying habit of bouncing back from whatever obstacle they face. Besides, they have that earth bender friend of yours with them, so I'm sure they're fine! " the former Prince reminded the Air Nomad and the Southern Water Tribe girl, unaware he had robbed Toph of her elemental abilities just as he had the heroes from Heatherfield.

"I'd worry about yourself if I were you, Avatar." Zuko teased, grinning before the boy from the iceberg. "What is it you fear, hmmm?"

Zuko paced the room, lost in thought. "Could it be death? No. You've faced that many times."

The Fire Lord stopped in front of the girl from the South Pole. "Maybe you fear the fate in store for your friends?" he evilly purred, as he stroked the stunned Katara's chin.

"Leave her alone!!" Aang, full of brash energy, demanded.

"Or what?" Zuko challenged, his hand still grasping Katara's face. "What are you going to do to me??"

"I..." Aang was speechless, uncertain of himself.

"Come on, Avatar Aang! I'm threatening your friend! Release the Avatar State, break your bonds and fight me!!" Zuko urged the peace-loving Air Monk.

"...I can't." Aang gasped, and hung his head. "I'm sorry, Katara!"

"Look at you!" Zuko sneered. "The power of all previous Avatars at your fingertips, yet you're more afraid of that than you are of someone hurting those closest to you! Your weakness sickens me! You're not worthy of being the Avatar!!" the son of Ozai stormed.

Katara had kept quiet, as she was trying to figure out what Zuko was up to. But mentally torturing Aang?? Why?!? And in the middle of a war??? It didn't make any sense! Zuko didn't hate Aang that much, did he?

Then the Water Tribe girl noticed something unusual.

When Aang received Zuko's abuse, a glow seemed to emanate from the lower part of his back.

ooooooooooooooo

"So what do we do?" Toph asked the question of the day. "How do we find your friend, Will?"

"Oh, I know where she is!" Taranee replied. "She's in the Fire Institute! Which is..."

"The most heavily guarded building around here!" Cornelia completed the thought. "And it's full of fire benders!"

From their hiding place, Corny pointed to the towering military facility that had been converted into a training center for fire bending recruits, including those picked by the Fire Guardian to receive fire bending abilities back when she performed that task for Zuko. Patrols regularly passed by it, and the guards at the gate did not hesitate to kill anyone who did not belong.

"So the question is, how do we get inside?" Tara analyzed the situation. "It's not going to be easy! Even when I worked for Zuko, this is one place they didn't allow me access."

"I say we let Hay Lin at them!" Irma insensitively quipped. "She'll take care of those guards real good!"

"No!!!" Hay Lin wailed. "I can't do that!"

"I'm only joking, Hay Hay!" Irma explained, then turned toward her friend to ease her distress.

But the Asian girl wasn't there anymore.

"Hay Lin? Where'd you go??" the non-powered Water Guardian anxiously asked.

"I'm here!!" the Air Guardian responded, as she appeared out of nowhere.

"She turned invisible!!" Irma yelped.

"But I thought Zuko took our powers away?!" the bemused, non-earth sensing and still blind Toph said.

"He did. I still can't change!" Cornelia said, unable to alter her body to plant or stone or call upon those elements of earth.

"Same here!" added Irma, equally unable to call upon the liquid element.

_And I can't generate fire! _ Taranee spoke into her fellow Guardians' heads. _But I can still communicate with you three!_

"And I can move things with my mind!" Corny cried out, as she levitated Toph.

"Put me down!!" the blind Earth Kingdom girl screamed.

"Yeah, and I can still change the color of clothes!" Irma interjected, altering Miss Bei Fong's green and yellow outfit to the Fire Nation colors of red and dark brown.

"Put me...!" Toph blurted, before her feet came to rest gently on the soil. "Hey, you did it. Without dropping me!"

"Why would Zuko leave us with any powers??" Hay Lin wondered.

"Maybe he's not aware of our extra powers?" Taranee reasoned. "I think Zuko only understands the elemental powers of earth, air, water and fire, so those are the ones he stripped us of!"

"Or he doesn't care! How are we supposed to stop Zuko with invisibility, telekinesis, telepathy and color-changing?!?" a depressed Hay Hay grumbled.

"Suggestion!" Irma corrected her lifelong friend. "My other power is the power of suggestion. Changing the color of clothes is one of those minor extras, like Corny's growing!" she pointed out.

"Okay, fine! But even with 'suggestion', how are we supposed to free Will from an army of fire benders?? This is a nightmare!" the Guardian of Air moaned.

"We'll find a way! We have to!!" Taranee pep-talked the group.

"Wait...I have an idea." Cornelia declared. "But first, we're going to need a few things..."

ooooooooooooooo

Chakra 2: Guilt

"How many lives are you responsible for, Avatar?" Zuko asked rhetorically, then got more specific. "How many lost their lives, because of you?!!"

"I don't know." Aang confessed.

"Then I'll ask an easier question: Would your friend, the Water Tribe boy, still be alive today if he had never met you?" Zuko grilled the Avatar.

"Yes." Aang squeaked. "Probably."

"What's that? I didn't hear you!!" the Fire Lord raised his voice.

"YES!!" Aang shouted.

"Uh huh. What was his name?" Zuko pried deep into the Avatar's soul.

"Sokka." Aang answered, the tears welling up in his eyes.

"Yes. Sokka." Zuko smiled. He was like a Saber-tooth Moose-lion playing with his meal. "The boy you took from his safe home in the remote South Pole, and sent him at the head of an army to invade my country!" Zuko railed.

"It wasn't like that!" Aang feebly protested, the tears now flowing freely. "We, we had all decided..."

"Stop it!" Katara screamed. She couldn't sit by any longer and let the Fire Lord abuse the boy she cared so much about. "Leave him alone!!"

"Uh uh. This isn't about you!" Zuko snapped. At his command, a band of energy wrapped itself around the water bender's mouth, silencing her! "At least, not yet." he cackled.

"Now, then, Avatar...Where were we?" Zuko smirked. "Ah, yes! The Day of Black Sun Invasion! Where you, the brave 'Avatar', chose to confront a powerless fire bender - me - while your friend Sokka faced the full might of my army! Tell me, Avatar Aang, how could his death not be your fault?"

"I...I can't say that." Aang admitted. "It is my fault!"

With the utterance of those words, the Avatar's back glowed even more.

ooooooooooooooo

"This will never work!" Irma bitched. "I can't believe you talked Taranee into this! She's supposed to be the 'smart one'! Usually I'm the one dumb enough to fall for these stunts, but..."

"Irma, shush!" Cornelia silenced her much-too-verbal-for-her-own-good friend. "This will work if you give it a chance! Now be quiet" she ordered, the branches tied to her legs and feet rustling against the ground (and each other, kind of like a noisy pair of jeans) as she walked up to the entrance to the Fire Institute.

"Sure. If they don't see the wires." Irma sarcastically whispered to herself.

"Halt! Who goes there!!" the Fire Nation guard demanded.

"It is I, the Plant Spirit!" the painted green Cornelia Hale announced. The four powerless Guardians and Toph had smeared wet leaves and other green things on Cornelia's exposed epidermis to simulate her 'Plant Spirit' skin condition. Then, they gathered up all the vines, twigs and branches they could find and affixed them any way they could to the former Earth Guardian's body, tossing a few dry leaves into her flowing golden tresses for good measure. The girls tried to cover up the wires and string they used with a flowing green robe, but it was still a rush job. Opening night at the theater, it may have worked.

But here, in the Fire Nation, and now, with a war on?

Corny stood audaciously before the fire bending guards who, with only a quick movement, could burn them all to death! Then, with the power of her mind, Cornelia made all the branches and vines attached to her body quiver!

"By the power of the Earth, I seek entrance to your quarters!" she solemnly intoned.

It was a pretty good show.

If only the soldiers were stupid enough to buy it!

"Plant Spirit?!" the first guard reacted with amazement and no small amount of dread. He was obviously familiar with the story of how Cornelia single-handedly defeated the fearsome former Fire Lord, Ozai, even though, if you asked Cornelia, she would admit she got lucky! "I, I'm sorry, Plant Spirit, but you're not allowed in. Lord Zuko's orders."

"Er, Fire Lord Zuko rescinded those orders, but he's been much too busy to tell you! There is a war on, you know!" Cornelia bluffed. "It's very important to the security of the Nation that we be allowed in! So, step aside, or..."

"Even if we were to buy that, and I'm not sayin' we ain't..." the second, and obviously not much smarter, guard opined, "...Who are these other people with you? They don't look Fire Nation!"

Though Irma had used her strange ability to alter the hue of their garments to dark, Fire Nation colors, there was no disguising the decidedly un-Fire Nation-like features of the Water Guardian's round face and eyes, plus Taranee's hair and dark skin, among other examples. (Without her wings and 'grown-up', dreadlocked form, Taranee was unrecognizable, and appeared as just another foreigner to their land.)

"That's because...they're my subjects!" the quick-thinking Cornelia responded. Then, to put the cherry on top her scheme, she grew a foot and a half instantly and threatened "Now let me and my subjects in, or I'll turn you into a tree!"

"Yes, right away, Lady Cornelia!" the first guard yelped, and quickly moved aside.

"Please don't tell Lord Zuko!" the second, and equally fearful, guard requested, as he too stepped aside and nervously opened the gate.

"If I tell Lord Zuko anything, it would be what a credit you are to the Fire Nation, my good soldiers!" Cornelia smiled, and gave a 'royal wave'. Taranee, Irma, Hay Lin and Toph followed the courtly 'Plant Spirit' through the front door of the Fire Institute. They could scarcely believe their bluff had worked!

" 'Subjects'??" Taranee spat, once they were away from the Fire Nation guards.

"_Lady _Cornelia??" Irma Lair gagged. "Great, now she's gonna think she really is a Princess!"

"Hmphh! I've always carried myself like a Princess, Irma! It's aspirational! Not that you'd know what that means!" Corny retorted, nose stuck proudly up in the air. "So watch your mouth, peasant, or I'll have you clapped in chains for speaking against your liege!" she joked, imitating a snooty, upper crust voice.

"Gah! Kill me now!!" Irma wise-cracked, as she pantomimed choking herself. "Zuko's created a monster!"

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?!" Corny replied, winning the argument. "One thing you learn being so close to those in power is how easily soldiers follow orders!" she bragged.

"Great! We're in!" the acerbic Toph added her two cents. "Now what??"

The four Guardians looked around the corner to the main courtyard, beyond which lay the tower that held their friend and leader, Will, prisoner.

There were scores of soldiers in the courtyard, fire bender recruits, mostly, practicing their fire bending!

"Ulp! Now comes the tricky part!" the much less confident Cornelia uttered.

Unknown to the five girls, a sixth had followed them in, and clung to the shadows.

ooooooooooooooo

Chakra 3: Shame

"Your race, the Air Nomads, were wiped out 100 years ago, and where were you?" Zuko castigated the Avatar. "You promised everyone you'd defeat the Fire Lord and end the war, and you failed there, too! It took a girl from another world, who had been here a only few short months, to do the job YOU couldn't!!"

Zuko continued to hammer away at the captive Air Monk.

Katara could only watch, helplessly, as her dear friend suffered more and more emotional anguish!

"At almost every turn, you failed those closest to you, Avatar Aang!" Fire Lord Zuko, wielder of the Heart of Candracar, ripped into his target. "Your shame is greater than any Avatar's in history!!"

Aang had no answer for Zuko. The look on his face said it all. He clearly agreed with the Fire Lord's sour assessment of his performance as the Avatar.

Also, his stomach began to glow.

ooooooooooooooo

**FWOOOSHHH**

"Incoming!" one boy shouted.

"Ahhh!!!" his friend yelped and jumped out of the way, the errant fireball narrowly missing his head!

"Sorry!" the boy apologized.

"Chan! Ruon Jian!" the instructor yelled. "What do you two sons of hogmonkeys think you're doing??!"

"Those guys are fire benders?? They're terrible!!" Irma commented as she and the other girls, from their hiding place, watched the Fire Nation recruits practice their fire bending. "And here I thought this was gonna be hard!"

"Those are two of the people I gave fire bending to." Taranee interjected.

"Say what now??" Irma sarcastically asked.

"One of my duties when I worked for Zuko was to give fire bending to some of his subjects." Tara informed the group. "But he let me pick who would receive 'the gift'. So I selected who I thought would be the least dangerous."

"But look how many there are!" Hay Lin wailed.

"Will's being held in a cellar storeroom in that part of the building over there." Taranee pointed the way.

"Then what are we waiting for?" an anxious Irma Lair retorted. "Let's go!"

"Not so fast." Taranee held up her hand to stop her friend. "It's not even guarded! I don't think Zuko told his men what's in there."

"Yeah, it is like Zuko to keep secrets." Cornelia wryly commented.

"So? Even better!" Irma responded.

"But look over there at that wing!" Tara observed. "Look at all those guards! I researched this place after the first time I was here, and it's supposed to be a former military prison. Emphasis on 'former'!"

"So you think maybe Will's being held prisoner there?" Irma inquired.

"Maybe. But I doubt it." Taranee replied. "I've got a hunch Zuko's keeping someone else on ice...His uncle, Iroh!"

"Again, so? I say we get Will right now!" Irma urged her friends, and began moving toward the courtyard of fire benders.

"Slow down, Irma! Taranee's got a plan!" Cornelia held the Water Guardian back, then turned to the Fire Guardian. "You do, right, Taranee?"

"Maybe not exactly a plan." Tara sheepishly admitted. "I've got this feeling he's there, and somehow he's the key to all this, this whole mess with Zuko and the Heart."

"Wait, you want to do something you didn't learn in a book?? You're using intuition? I'm shocked!" Irma teased.

"Ha ha." Taranee coolly retorted.

"It's not so dumb, Irma!" Corny stuck up for Judge Cook's daughter. "Iroh's supposed to be an excellent fire bender! He can probably beat all these guys!"

"I didn't say it was dumb. I'm just surprised Taranee's going with her gut! I'm actually impressed." Irma defended herself, then turned to her fellow Guardian. "If you're sure you want to do this, I'll back you, Tara!"

"Thanks, guys." Taranee Cook was grateful for the special bond that held them together. "But with all those guards in front of the place, I'm going to need a distraction to get in!"

"Leave that to me." Cornelia confidently declared, then glanced back at Irma and Toph. "And my 'subjects'!"

"Uh oh." Irma gulped. "I don't think I like the sound of that!"

Soon after, a 'royal procession' advanced through the courtyard of the Fire Institute.

"Make way! Make way! Plant Spirit coming through!" Irma announced, spreading flowers before the feet of the 'Plant Spirit', the disguised Cornelia Hale, while Toph took up the rear, _literally, _holding Corny's robe so it didn't drag on the ground (and also using it to follow her two friends, since she was totally blind without her earth bending).

"What's this now?" the fire bending instructor growled. He didn't appreciate any interference with his mission to train Fire Nation soldiers, and he especially didn't like foreign Spirits!

"Hello, my good sir!" Cornelia imperiously sniffed. "Fire Lord Zuko bade me inspect your facilities and see how you were accomplishing the glorious mission of the Fire Nation, Agni be praised!" Cornelia voiced the little prayer and then bowed, mimicking the proper etiquette of the Royal Court.

"Did he, now?" the senior soldier spoke, rubbing his chin in confusion, not knowing what to say in response. He was a simple army man, not used to courtly ways.

A crowd of recruits gathered around Corny, Irma and Toph. Some, stuck in the back, strained to stand on their tippy-toes to see who was visiting.

Noting the commotion, the guards at the prison tower wing abandoned their post and ran to see what was going on.

Leaving the way open for Taranee and Hay Lin to sneak up, unnoticed, to the unguarded door to the prison.

Moments earlier, out of earshot of the Air Guardian, Irma had told Taranee "Take Hay Lin with you. The way she is now, if we have to duke it out with these guys, she'd be more useless than Toph!"

"Hey! I'm blind, not deaf!" an offended Toph Bei Fong spat.

"Oh! Sorry, Toph!" Irma quickly apologized.

The plan was set thusly: Taranee and Hay Lin would search for Iroh in the prison, while Cornelia, Irma and Toph would free Will from her confinement. After these two tasks were complete, they would all reunite and launch another assault on Zuko.

Corny and Irma, ever full of chutzpah, would trick their way in while Tara and Hay Lin would operate more covertly. If anyone were to ask the Fire & Air Guardians who they were and what they were doing, they'd say they were new fire bending acolytes and got lost.

The plan was working perfectly!

Then someone saw the wires.

"Hey! She's not the real Plant Spirit!" an unusually on the ball acolyte pointed out. "Those branches are tied to her!"

"Uh oh." Irma uttered.

ooooooooooooooo

Chakra 4: Grief

"Do you remember that day, Avatar?" Zuko's biting words dug deep into Aang's soul. "The day you said farewell to Sokka?"

The members of the Southern Water Tribe solemnly bore Sokka's body away from the site where he fell during the Day of Black Sun Invasion.

They took him to the middle of vast Mother Ocean, giver of life, prepared his remains, and buried him at sea while his sister, a weeping Katara, and his father, a silent Chief Hakoda, stood mute witness to his sacrifice.

Aang, though, could not face what had occurred, and kept to himself, away from the others in the grieving party.

"Shut up, Zuko!" Aang, his eyes red with after producing so many tears, snapped. "You weren't there! You don't know what happened!"

"No. But I can imagine. I've dealt with grief myself in my short life." Zuko confided. "And you want to know a secret?"

"What??" Aang politely, but angrily, responded.

"Just this..." Zuko leaned over to the Avatar and whispered in his ear.

Katara could only imagine what he was telling Aang! Something horrible, no doubt! She so wanted to take Aang in her arms, tell him it was alright, that, that she loved him and forgave him his mistakes, that EVERYONE did!

But it was impossible for Aang to hear any of that. Zuko had muzzled Katara.

And what the Fire Lord told Aang was more terrible than anything the Water Tribe girl could conceive!

"They all hate you, you know." Zuko whispered to the young Avatar. "They hate having to rely on you to help their world. You symbolize all their failures to end the war and bring peace."

"No, that...That's not true! I'm hope to them! They've said it many times!" Aang rejected Zuko's 'truth'.

"They blame you for the state of the world, just as my father blamed me for the loss of his wife, my mother." Zuko continued his private talk. "Don't you see, Avatar Aang? They wanted our deaths to pay for their sins, yours during the first attack 100 years ago, and mine after my father had...a dispute with Azulon, my grandfather. But we refused to go along! So of course they hate us! We have a lot in common, Avatar!"

"We're nothing alike, Zuko!" Aang spat.

"If only that were true..." Zuko sighed. Then he looked Aang in the eye and said "But mostly, they hate you for another reason, a far more personal one. Tell me, Avatar, have you told the girl how you feel about her?" Zuko quietly interrogated.

"Leave Katara out of this!" Aang railed.

"You haven't, have you? And do you know why?" Zuko paused, stared briefly at Katara, then returned his attention to Aang and continued. "Because she would reject you if you did. She hates you for taking her brother away from her! How could she not?! She only follows you now out of a sense of duty!"

"No. That...can't be." the sorrowful boy moaned, recalling how, although Zuko didn't know it, Katara DID reject Aang after he told her how much he loved her!

"You know I'm right, Avatar." Zuko whacked another nail in the personification of the four elements' coffin.

Aang looked at the distraught Katara, then turned away, unable to meet the gaze from the girl's pleading eyes.

His grief complete, Aang's heart lit up.

Zuko smiled. He was more than halfway home in his dark scheme.

ooooooooooooooo

"What happened to your plants?" the military man interrogated the 'Plant Spirit'.

"Ah, they must have gotten old and died! I can do that too, you know! Make plants die!" Cornelia thought fast, and ran her mouth even faster.

"I really am the Plant Spirit, and I'm here to inspect your facilities per Fire Lord Zuko's command!" Corny continued the 'Royal Spirit act' and telekinetically shook the twigs and branches as she spoke, but it wasn't working. "Want to see me grow?" she added. However, Cornelia couldn't enlarge even another inch because she had already grown to her maximum height. "Oh, wait, I can't..."

With the lamps ringing the area at full glow, the light was much better in the courtyard than outside, and it was becoming exceedingly hard to disguise the truth.

"Why are the plants tied to you??" one of the fire bending recruits asked.

"So I don't lose them?" Cornelia weakly offered.

"Fake!!" one yelled.

"She must be an Earth Kingdom spy!" another shouted.

"Let's get 'em!" an eager recruit incited his fellow acolytes.

"For the Fire Nation!" a group of the young patriots yelled, as they ran at our hapless heroes!

"Corny, lock arms!" Irma, standing back to back to Cornelia, implored her frazzled friend. Irma couldn't use her power of suggestion on such a large group but, luckily, she had a better idea!

"What??!" the Hales' oldest daughter responded. She thought they'd have to fight off the horde, but Irma wanted to grab hold of her??? Cornelia felt really confused!

"Do it!" the Water Guardian demanded. Corny, not sure of any better options, complied. "Now levitate!!" Irma ordered.

"For the Fire Lo-what??" the recruit leading the charge gasped as the female duo rose into the air.

Then he ran **SMACK** into his fellow fire bender attacking from the other side who also staring at the floating girls. They were soon joined on the ground by those following them from behind, who tripped and fell over the pair of distracted wannabe fire benders!

"Now drop us down and spin us around! Helicopter!" Irma commanded.

Corny swiftly got the gist of Irma's logic, and seconds later the duo's flying-in-circles-feet took the fight out of

their remaining assailants!

After landing and grabbing Toph, the girls ran for the entrance to the storeroom.

However, there were still a few soldiers between them and the door, so Cornelia dropped Toph so she could concentrate on using her TK to take them out, while Irma 'suggested' to her opponent he aim his fire away from her so she could run around him and knock him down.

Which left Toph facing a fearsome fire bender all by herself!

"A blind girl?? Ha! What are you going to do to me, girlie?!" he laughed.

"I'll show you!" the proud Toph dared, and set her feet, arms and body into an earth bending fighting stance, although she lacked any bending ability at the moment.

Cornelia saw Toph's predicament, and casually, telekinetically, pushed the man forward into Toph's outstretched fist! He crumpled like paper once his face met Toph's knuckles!

"Time to go, Toph!" Corny hustled her earthly companion through the door of the storehouse, followed closely by Irma, who slammed the door shut!

"Did you see me take that guy out??" Toph bragged, once the three were safely inside and Irma & Cornelia had barred the door. "I am the Blind Bandit! Yes!" she cheered, flexing her muscles in showoff fashion. Toph thought all that earth bending she did for so many years had given her quite the workout!

"Yeahhhh..." Irma began, then stopped herself, not wanting to burst Toph's bubble of invincibility. "Toph aside, when we get back home, I am so going to get Caleb to give me a few pointers on fighting! That was nuts!" Irma realized they had gotten lucky, and if there was one thing she knew about luck, it was that it didn't last.

"Noted!" Cornelia perfunctorily responded, then got down to business. "Now let's get Will!"

The three marched down the stairs to the cellar where Zuko kept Will imprisoned.

Meanwhile, Taranee and Hay Lin had made it safely inside the old prison without being spotted.

"Are you okay back there, Hay Lin?" Taranee gently inquired while slinking stealthily through the old prison's corridors. It seemed deserted and empty, but evidence of disturbed dust and recent footprints dispelled the notion it was unused. "You've been...kind of quiet." Tara whispered. She, like Irma, was worried the Guardian of Air was suffering post-traumatic stress after her 'run-in' (to put it kindly!) with Princess Azula.

"No, I'm fine." the much less chipper than usual Miss Lin replied in a voice very close to a monotone, but not quite that emotionless. It was clear she was putting up a brave front, soldiering on as best as she could for her team, 'her girls'. "But I don't understand why we aren't rescuing Will with Cornelia and Irma!" Hay Lin disappointedly cried.

"Because, to tell the truth..." Tara hesitated, and ducked back when she thought she saw someone up ahead. "...I didn't think it would work. I couldn't rouse Will, after all, when Zuko first showed her to me." Taranee recalled.

"Then, then you sent them to fail?!" a shocked Hay Lin gasped.

"No." Taranee held up her hand to halt Hay Hay's advance while she checked to see if the coast was clear. "Maybe they can do something I couldn't. But the key, as I said before, is Iroh. However, I didn't realize that until after Irma told me something that happened on the first invasion."

"You mean that spiritcatcher thingy Zuko trapped her and Aang in?" Hay Lin deduced.

"Correct. I had no idea Zuko was involved in anything to do with the Spirit World, and I heard that Iroh had...Hold it" Taranee ordered her friend to stop as soon as she spotted activity down the darkened hallway. "I think we're here."

ooooooooooooooo

Chakra 5: Lies

"Lies swirl around you, Avatar! When we first met, you were hiding, denying who you were. And the lies continue to this day!" Zuko accused the last Air Nomad. "You didn't tell Katara the truth about your friend, the air girl."

"Her name's Hay Lin! And I don't know what you're talking about!" Aang shouted in reply.

"Really?" Zuko smirked. He was enjoying this far more than he thought he would. The Avatar was usually so self-righteous, all 'I don't eat meat, I don't believe in violence'! But Ozai's son was exposing him for what he really was! "Yesterday, before you left the Earth Kingdom, what did you tell Hay Lin? I'm sure Katara would like to hear it."

"I didn't...It's nothing. It was personal." Aang replied, not looking either Zuko or Katara in the eye as he said it.

"Okay. Fine." Zuko casually retorted. "If that's the way you want to play it."

Katara stared at Aang, until the air bender couldn't take it any more!

"Katara, it's not important! You...you can't believe anything he says! It's Zuko!" Aang yelled, rather unconvincingly. The young Air Monk made Hay Lin promise to save Katara if anything happened to threaten her life, but Aang couldn't tell Katara that he went against her wishes to seek justice for her brother.

With that deception out of his mouth, Aang's throat radiated light.

_Oh, Aang! _ Katara felt for the youthful Air Nomad, who she loved more than she realized. _What is he doing to you?!?_

ooooooooooooooo

"It's locked!!" a very frustrated Irma Lair cried out. To have come this far, half a world, to rescue her friend, Will, and to be a few short feet away, only to be stymied by an old lock on a big ol' door???

"If only I had my metal bending!" Toph declared after feeling the obstacle in their path. Though the door was wood, its hinges and lock were metal.

"Step aside! You forget what I can do!" Cornelia declared, stretching her digits by interlocking the fingers on her hands and cracking her knuckles.

"But that door is too big and heavy for your tele-kiwhatever, isn't it??" a confused Irma wondered.

"Yeah. So?" Corny bent down, and directed her power at the lock itself. Since the metal deadbolt was too strong and solid to remove, Cornelia telekinetically moved the tumblers with her mind until they clicked into place.

"There!" a pleased Miss Hale announced, then swung the creaky cellar door open. "After you!"

"Now I see why Jet kept you around!" Irma joked, mentioning the 'freedom fighter' Cornelia spent some time with when she first arrived in the Avatar's world. Jet and Cornelia would often raid Fire Nation facilities in the occupied Earth Kingdom, and the Earth Guardian's special skills were invaluable to his success.

"Ha ha. Funny. Not!" a miffed Cornelia retorted.

"Who's Jet?" a curious Toph Bei Fong asked.

"Nobody!" Corny spat out the answer. Jet had used the blonde from Heatherfield for his own benefit, and the memory still rankled.

"Ask me later." Irma whispered to Toph.

"Hey, isn't it strange they haven't tried to follow us? I thought they'd have the outside door broken down by now!" Toph observed.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Toph!" Irma cracked. "Now let's get Will!"

"A horse? You mean an ostrich horse?? And why would you look it in the mouth?" a baffled Toph mused.

"Never mind! Come on!!" an annoyed Cornelia Hale snapped, and grabbed the slow-moving blind girl by the arm to hurry her along.

Meanwhile, outside the storeroom building...

"What's this I hear about spies?" a serious and sober-minded Captain Zindao inquired.

"That's right, Captain!" the drill sergeant snapped to attention and informed the newly-arrived superior officer who reviewed all Invasion-related intelligence reports. "But don't worry, we got 'em!"

"Then where are they?" Zindao directly asked.

"Errr, they're in the storehouse, sir." the enlisted man nervously replied.

"And may I ask WHY they're in the storehouse and not in custody??!" a very peeved Captain of the Guard Zindao interrogated.

The sergeant was sweating bullets, and really didn't want to answer the question.

But he didn't have to.

Two of his fire bender trainees did.

"We're not allowed in there, sir." Chan said.

"Fire Lord Zuko's orders, sir!" Ruon Jian helpfully added.

The two recruits smiled, thinking they were most beneficial to the high-ranking Captain.

But...

" 'Orders'?" Zindao uttered, unable to believe his ears.

Then he got mad!!

"I have an order for you! Open that door and drag those spies out here! **NOW!!!**" Zindao barked.

"Yes sir, right away, sir!" Chan anxiously replied. He and Ruon Jian ran to the storehouse door.

However...

"It's stuck!" the slacker son of the Admiral cried as he and his buddy struggled with the gate barred on the inside.

"You're fire benders, aren't you?" Capt. Zindao hotly declared. "Destroy that door!"

But Chan's fireball attempt blew up in his face, and Ruon Jian's flameburst set his shirt on fire!

"Oh, for the love of Agni!" the exasperated Captain exclaimed, his hand trying to calm the throbbing vein on his forehead, while the two trainees each ran for a bucket of water to ease their pain!

ooooooooooooooo

Chakra 6: Illusion

Through the portal, a vision.

A vision of what the world would be like without Aang!

"Do you see that?" Zuko implored his two captives. "This is what the world would be like if Aang lived his natural lifespan, instead of cheating death! It's a world where the new Avatar ensures the peace, the wickedness of the Fire Nation having been wiped away by his ascension!"

The new Avatar, seen from behind, wore a royal crown of the Fire Nation on his head as he met peacefully with representatives of the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes at a great feast.

"How...how are you doing this?" the puzzled and weary Aang asked.

"Through the help of a friend." Zuko answered. He was making use of Koh's ability to play scenes on the wall of his cave. "But that's not important. What's important is how your selfishness hurt everyone in the world!"

Having accepted Zuko's shadowplay, Aang's forehead lit up.

Zuko chuckled to himself. He was so very close now! So close to all he desired!

ooooooooooooooo

"**WILL!!!**"

"Forget it, Irma!" Cornelia regretted. "Even your legendary wake-up skills are useless!"

The two Guardians stood before their red-headed friend, imprisoned behind a curtain of...

"What is this stuff, anyway?" Irma asked.

"It looks like the same thing Zuko used to trap us...Heart energy." Corny replied, probing it with her fingers as she said it. "But it feels...odd. Like it doesn't have any _oomph_ to it."

"Yeah, it's not all sparkly, like when Will uses the Heart of Candracar, is it?" Irma pondered. "I guess 'cause Zuko made it?"

Then Cornelia looked to the unconscious Guardian leader and added "Lifeless."

Before the Heatherfield duo could consider the ramifications of those words, they were distracted...

...by Toph!

"Hey!" the blind Earth Kingdom girl yelped, her hands running over a large, man-sized object. "What's this??"

"Get away from that, Toph!" Irma ordered, tearing the Bei Fong lass away from the crystalline structure. "You don't want to wake that guy up! That's Phobos!!"

Phobos, evil Prince of Meridian, whom Lord Zuko had captured as a peace offering to Taranee and Cornelia, to make up for not releasing Will. He sealed the dread mage in a prison of crystal, lest he get free and terrorize the world!

"What do we do now??" Cornelia wailed. They had put all their hope in the ability of a free Will Vandom to beat Zuko and stop the war.

"What?? Is the 'confident Corny' actually worried??" Irma teased.

"After what I've seen? Yeah, a bit." the former Earth Guardian admitted.

"What did you see?" a very curious Irma Lair pried. "What happened to you, Cornelia?? I mean, first time I see you in months, you're a _plant, _for cryin' out loud, and now you're human again! So, I guess what I mean to ask is, how are you doing?" the Water Guardian oh so sensitively (well, sensitive for Irma, anyway) inquired.

"Honestly?" Cornelia took a rare moment to reflect. Usually, as a member of the Guardians, Cornelia Hale was too busy dashing off to Candracar, or Meridian, or in school, or with her boyfriend, or involved in some family outing to pause and consider her hectic lifestyle. She couldn't remember the last time she had an opportunity to discuss her life with someone close to her. "I've never felt better! All that time as the 'Plant Spirit' seems like a dream now. A very long dream! It was as if I was outside of my body, watching things. Really weird. And if I never have to do that again, that's fine with me!"

"You feel pretty good, huh? So Zuko actually did you a favor?" Irma zinged her friend of many years.

"I wouldn't go that far!" Cornelia snorted in reply.

"Zuko! What is the deal with that guy, anyway??" the ticked off Toph blurted. "He starts this war, grabs Aang and Katara, locks them all up...I don't get it!!"

"Zuko never did tell me much." Cornelia revealed. "I always got the feeling he was holding back, like he had some big secret that he couldn't tell anyone! I tried to find out, but..."

"Would this 'trying' involve using any feminine wiles?" Irma said in jest.

"Shut it, Irma!" a peeved Cornelia Hale shot back. Irma had touched a raw nerve, because the blonde Guardian had used a budding relationship with the scarred Fire Lord as part of her plan to free Will, only to see it all go wrong when Zuko turned the tables on her on the Day of Black Sun.

"I was just joking!" Irma said in her defense. Her weak attempts at humor, an effort to keep things light in the face of _extreme_ adversity, were definitely falling flat.

Which prompted the Guardian of Water to get serious herself.

"It's nice you're feeling better, Corny, but the one I'm worried about is Hay Lin. She's not holding up real well." Irma spoke from the heart.

"I'm sure we've all been through a lot, but she'll be okay. Hay Lin's stronger than you give her credit for." Cornelia commented, unaware of the Azula incident/beat down.

"Yeah. That's what I'm afraid of." Irma whispered to herself. "Why didn't I see it coming?" Irma blamed herself, at least in part, for the Air Guardian's violent rampage.

"What?" Corny inquired.

"Never mind." Irma replied, not wishing to go into the sordid details. So she changed the subject. "Who was that girl who took Caleb?"

"You mean Jun?" Cornelia clarified. "Just someone I met here. There are a lot of nice people in the Fire Nation, Irma."

"I know that, but..."

"What's the matter? Jealous?" Corny teased Mr. Lair's daughter.

"Huh! As if!" a miffed Irma huffed.

"Wow. I thought things between me and Sugar Queen were messed up, but we've got nothing on you two!" Toph 'observed'. Though blind, she 'saw' some things more clearly than those with sight. Such as, Cornelia and Irma have one of the strangest love/hate relationships there is, attacking each other like drunk bridesmaids wearing the same outfit at a wedding one moment, and comforting each other like long-lost sisters meeting at a funeral for the first time in years the next.

The two Guardian girls had zero response to her snarky comment (years of ribbing by Will, Taranee and Hay Lin had inoculated the pair to criticism of their unique attachment), so Toph continued. "Um, what do you think Zuko is up to?"

"He's waiting for something, I think." Cornelia speculated. "But what it is, I have no idea!"

"Could it have to do with the comet?" Toph offered her theory. "It's supposed to make fire benders stronger."

"But the comet doesn't return until tomorrow." Irma pointed out. "And Aang's pretty slippery. Zuko can't expect to hold him that long!"

"Something doesn't add up." Cornelia said. "Either way, I don't think we can afford to waste any more time!"

"Yeah, about that time thing..." Toph ruefully interjected. A feeling of unease had settled over her like a funeral shroud. "...I think we're about out of..."

"Halt, spies!! You are all our prisoners!" the Fire Nation soldier announced.

He was joined by a squadron of fire benders who swiftly surrounded the elementally powerless trio in the cellar storeroom with no rear exit.

While our three trapped heroes faced certain capture, in the other part of the complex, the supposed _former _prison, Taranee and Hay Lin found a guard watching over a lone cell.

And, curiously enough, a discussion was under way...

"You _should _fear the Spirits!" the unknown occupant of the cell told the guard. "Don't incur their wrath!"

But the single sentry dismissed the advice. "Spirits! Ha! I don't believe in the Plant Spirit, and I've seen her!" he cracked.

"Iroh's got to be in there!" Tara declared from her hiding spot down the hall. "Hay Lin, pick up something heavy, go invisible and take that guy out!"

"No, Taranee!" Hay Hay wailed. "I can't do that! Please don't make me!!"

Hay Lin, by this point, abhorred violence. Although to Taranee it appeared as if the shell-shocked Air Guardian was having a nervous breakdown, Hay Lin sincerely believed if she attacked someone now she could kill them.

"But...okay, okay, I'll do it!" the Fire Guardian changed tactics. "So calm down. Get invisible and cause a distraction so I can sneak up on the guard. You can do that, right?" the irked Miss Cook asked.

"I guess so. Yeah." Hay Lin responded, her quick-beating heart slowing down. But her relief was replaced by a feeling of shame. She had let her friend down.

Hay Hay turned away from the object of her shame and, unseen, glided silently past the guard, then created quite a ruckus!

**BANG**

**WHAM**

"Who's there?!" the sentry shouted.

But the hall was empty.

Instinctively, he glanced in the other direction...

...and saw Taranee barreling at him, rock in hand!

Aaaahhhh!" Tara screamed, in an attempt to throw off her target's reflexes and allow her to get in one good shot at him.

But this guard was no novice!

He slapped the weapon out of the girl's hand, grabbed her by the throat, then picked his young assailant up off the ground!

"Ho, what's this, then?" he laughed. "It appears you have a visitor!"

Then the sentry's demeanor changed.

"One **dead **visitor!" he angrily growled.

"No! You leave her alone!!" a voice rang out, and echoed off the walls of the prison.

"What the??" the guard who didn't believe in spirits stammered, but didn't lose his grip on his prey. "Who said that??!"

But he could see no one.

_Hay Lin! _Taranee broadcast her thoughts to her friend. _Get out of here! Save yourself!_

"**No!!!**" Hay Lin cried, then became visible, her little hands balled up into fists as she stood her ground. "I won't abandon you, Taranee!"

_Oh, Hay Lin! _Taranee thought to herself. _You've doomed us both!_

ooooooooooooooo

Zuko took his pocket watch out and stared at the time. _It won't be long now. _he thought.

Since he had time to spare, the upbeat Fire Lord decided to take a refreshing pause from his necessary work of breaking the Avatar and relax with a glass of fire ale.

Moments later, Zuko returned to the room where Aang and Katara were held and noticed his unseen ally was still running his moving picture show through the hole in space.

In it, the 'new Avatar', an _unscarred _Zuko, supped happily with his father, Ozai (who, in reality, had disowned him); his missing mother, Ursa; his lost love, Mai; and his vanished Uncle Iroh.

"Stop it!" Zuko raged, and zapped the power of the Heart of Candracar through the portal.

Leaving Aang and Katara more mystified than ever.

ooooooooooooooo

"We've got them, sir!" the sergeant proudly reported to the Captain of the Guard, the captives marched out of the storeroom building by the squad of fire bender trainees. "And you'll never guess what these spies tried to pull! One of them pretended to be…"

"Plant Spirit!" Captain Zindao exclaimed upon seeing Cornelia. "What are you doing here??"

"Let us go, Zindao!" Cornelia demanded. "Zuko sent us here!"

"She really is the Plant Spirit??!" the alarmed Fire Army drill instructor howled.

"But why would you be here pretending..." Zindao noted her skin smudged with green dye and the bad 'Plant Spirit' disguise Cornelia wore. "...Then…You don't have your powers? Oh, this is rich! Fortune smiles upon me!"

"Don't worry, sergeant," Zindao reassured his subordinate. "Yes, she is the Plant Spirit, but she can't hurt us! What happened, did Zuko take your powers away?" he interrogated the blonde from Heatherfield. "And are these your outworlder friends?"

"Hey, I'm not an outworlder!" Toph protested.

"Don't tell him anything, Toph!" Cornelia insisted.

"You mean, like my name?" Toph sarcastically retorted.

"It doesn't matter. Whatever you were trying to do here is over!" Captain Zindao declared. "Take them to the stockade!" he ordered.

"Not so fast, Zindao!" Cornelia halted the soldiers attempting to take her into custody. "I...I challenge you to an Agni Kai!"

"What???" Zindao was stunned by the audacity of the outworld Spirit. "Only a citizen of the Fire Nation can challenge another to an Agni Kai!" he sneered. "Take them away!"

"Corny, what are you doing??" a baffled Irma begged her friend.

"The only thing I can do!" a somber but determined Cornelia Hale answered. "We're in real trouble! Zindao knows who I am, but he didn't blink when I dropped Zuko's name! Something is wrong."

"Actually, sir..." Chan interjected. "...Since she is the Plant Spirit, like you said, she is a member of the Fire Nation! Lord Zuko proclaimed her a citizen on Fire Angel/Plant Spirit Day at the Royal Zoo!"

"Yeah! I remember that!" Ruon Jian added. "That's where we met the Fire Angel and got her autograph!"

"That was so cool!" Chan cheered.

"Sure was!!" Ruon Jian smilingly agreed. "I even hung it on my wall!"

"Will you two idiots shut the fire up!!" a ticked off Captain Zindao angrily bellowed.

"Well...Guess who loses his honor by running away from a duel?" Cornelia mocked the Captain of the Guard.

"Very well. But you will pay severely for this attempt at belittling me!" the inflamed fire bender promised, as he tore off his cloak & shirt, revealing the buff torso beneath. "Prepare yourself!"

"I hope you weren't expecting me to take my shirt off, 'cause I wouldn't want to overexcite my fanclub!" Corny quipped.

"Yes!" Chan goaded Cornelia. "Please do, Plant Spirit!"

"Pleeeaaassseee! We won't look!" Ruon Jian bleated.

"What do you mean, 'we won't look'? No wonder they think we're idiots!" Chan retorted.

"I only said that so she'd do it!" Ruon Jian weakly claimed.

"Cornelia...Are you sure about this?" a worried Irma inquired.

"Oh, yeah! Zindao's only the two-time fire bending champion of the army, that's all! Nothing to worry about there!" the blonde from Heatherfield sarcastically replied.

"I'm serious! I..."

"Irma, I'm going to use my telekinesis to make things as crazy as I can, and when I do, you two have to run for it!" Cornelia Hale urged her friend.

"But what about you???" Irma cried.

"Don't worry about me! I'm too valuable a prize for them to harm." Cornelia reassured her longtime companion. "But God knows what they'll do to you and Toph!"

"No, I mean, we came all this way to get you, but it's all gone wrong, and now I..." Tears welled up in Irma's eyes. It was the one form of moisture the Water Guardian had no control over.

"Shh, I know, Irma, I know..." Cornelia embraced the one Guardian who was like a sister to her (and, like most sisters, drove her nuts as often as possible!) "I love you, too."

"What about me?" Toph interrupted the tender scene.

"What???" a surprised Irma uttered.

_I knew it! They hate me! Especially Cornelia!_ Toph, rebuffed by the two Guardians, immediately thought.

The blind ex-earth bender's heart sank. After Sokka died, she suspected some in their group, but particularly Cornelia and Irma, blamed her for his death.

And now she was sure of it!

Then Toph felt two pairs of arms spread around her, enveloping her in a group hug.

"We love you, too, Toph!" Irma told her.

"And we're, I mean, I'm sorry!" Cornelia sincerely added.

Toph was blind, but if there is one thing eyes are totally unnecessary for, it's to see love. A good thing, too, since if Toph had eyes, she wouldn't be able to use them, what with all the water happily pouring out of her orbs at the moment!

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" Zindao mocked the three elementals.

"It is! Sniff!" Chan said, unsuccessfully holding back a tear.

"It's so beautiful!" Ruon Jian added, bawling his eyes out. "Wah ah ah hah!"

"I was making fun! Morons!" Zindao hollered, and followed up with a fireball that sailed over Chan and Ruon Jian 's heads, singeing their hair with a WHOOSH. "Now shut up!!" he barked.

Finally breaking from the hugfest, Cornelia walked to one end of the courtyard, then glanced over at Irma and Toph. Knowing they were united in love and friendship, the former Earth Guardian stiffened her spine, set her feet on the ground, fixed her gaze solidly on Captain Zindao the expert fire bender and declared "Let's do this!"

And then...

**ROAR!!!**

Flames shot over the length of the makeshift arena!

"What the?!!" Zindao blurted, as he dodged out of the way of the scorching lick of fire!

He turned to see where it was coming from. "A fire dragon??" he unbelievingly gasped. But he couldn't deny the evidence before his eyes. There it was, a dragon made out of fire, breathing flames on the assembled troop of fire bender trainees and destroying anything it hit with its arms and tail!

And behind the dragon was...

"It's the Fire Angel!" one Fire Army recruit yelled.

Taranee stood in back of the 'fire dragon' and directed its fearsome movements at the terrified group of fire bender wannabees.

"NO! Not the Fire Angel! We've upset her by threatening her friend the Plant Spirit! Run! Before she takes our bending away, or destroys us!!" Chan screamed like a little girl, as he and his fellow Army rookies took off like scared rabbiroos!

"It was his idea! Get him!" Ruon Jian said, pointing to Zindao. "Please don't hurt us!" he begged, as he kneeled before Tara and held his hands together in prayer.

"You fools! She's not using her powers like before, or even looks the same! She's probably as powerless as the Plant Spirit! This is all some sort of - Whoop!" Zindao exclaimed, avoiding the dragon's 'fire tail' that almost took off his head, then crashed into the wall, turning it into rubble!

Faced with a more powerful foe of heretofore unknown capabilities, Zindao, nephew of Admiral Zhao and an extremely accomplished military man himself, glared at the Guardians, then retreated to summon reinforcements - _real _Fire Nation warriors!

"What the heck??!" Irma yelped. She, Cornelia and Toph rushed to greet their fiery savior, all their enemies having fled before the might of the 'Fire Angel'! "Taranee, how'd you get your powers back??" the Water Guardian asked.

"Oh, I don't have my powers." Tara modestly responded, then smiled. "I did it with a little help from my friends!"

Hay Lin appeared out of thin air, wielding a mallet almost as big as her, and an older man stepped out of the shadows.

Iroh!

ooooooooooooooo

Aang struggled to control himself. With each negative emotion, a negative chakra was opened. Aang knew something bad was happening, and he recalled the Lion-Turtle's wise words.

_The true mind can weather all lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can touch the poison of hatred without being harmed. From beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light._

_That's it!_ Aang realized. _I must release my hate, my darkness. Let my light shine. _The Avatar meditated, and the glowing light released by his opened negative chakras grew and merged into a nearly perfect round ball, only lacking the top of the sphere, which would have covered his head.

This enraged Zuko! "What are you doing??" he sputtered. "Stop that this instant, or I'll...!"

Furious at the prospect of his plans coming undone, the former Prince accelerated his timetable and took out his anger on his next target.

"Let this be a lesson to you!" Zuko obstinately yelled, as he raised his hand to Katara!

"No!! Stop!" the heart-sick Avatar pleaded, as his healing light faded. "Please, Zuko! Don't hurt her!!"

But the Fire Lord would not be moved.

He swung his fist at the girl!

However, blinded by rage, Zuko missed Katara's face and hit her neck instead, breaking the chain that held the vial of water from the North Pole Spirit Oasis!

It tumbled through the air, spilling water as it went.

Spilling water, _Spirit_ water, on the thing that held Katara fast to the Palace wall: Her Heart of Candracar energy bonds.

The special water...dissolved them!

Katara was surprised to find herself suddenly free, but no one was more shocked than Fire Lord Zuko!

"How?? This can't..." he stammered.

Then, peering out the window, a passing cloud revealed to the water bender a very important fact: The moon had risen!

The full moon!

Gritting her teeth, Katara quickly moved her limbs to perform an act of bending she had only done once before.

Blood bending!

With a sweep of her arms, Katara jerked Zuko around like a puppet on a string!

"What the??" Zuko gasped, as his body moved of its own volition. "No! **Stop!!**" he screamed, as Katara forced him to crash headfirst into a wall!

ooooooooooooooo

In the medical tent set up by the Fire Nation Army to treat soldiers injured by the invaders (who had yet to arrive, as the Fire Nation Navy and Airships had heroically bottled up the Allied Nations' forces at sea), Jun stared at the unconscious teenage boy she had brought in.

Though he was obviously strong and tough, like favored Fire Nation males, there was also a softness, a tenderness, about him. _Must be why Cornelia likes him so much _she thought.

Caleb stirred, and his eyes opened. "Who are you?" he gasped.

"I'm Jun. Cornelia's friend." Jun Yi introduced herself. "I agreed to watch over you while she and her friends went to get someone named Will."

"So they're okay? Thank Candracar! But where would they go?" Caleb pondered. "What's the most heavily guarded place in the Palace area?" he asked.

"Um, that would be the Fire Institute." Jun revealed. "But it's crawling with fire benders!" she warned.

"And they don't have their powers! Damnit!" Caleb railed at the horrible workings of fate.

"I'm sorry, but they said they had to do it." Jun Yi commiserated.

"No. That's right. It was the only way." the rebel leader from Meridian agreed with the strategy, but desperately wished he could aid them. "If there was only something I could do!" he cried.

"So you're okay now? Because I have to get back to my airship." Jun said.

"You have an airship??!" a surprised Caleb yelped.

ooooooooooooooo

"I won't abandon you, Taranee!" Hay Lin had courageously cried, displaying her little fists in a brave (though foolhardy) attempt to challenge the beefy guard who literally held the life of Tara Cook in his thick hand.

Having given up her only advantage - invisibility - what could the slight Hay Hay do to the huge Fire Nation sentry?

Not much!

And the guard knew it.

Stunned at first upon seeing someone appear before him like a ghost, the guard quickly recovered and joked to his prisoner "Heh. Maybe you're right. Maybe Spirits do exist! Too bad they're weak Spi-aghk!"

"Can't say I didn't warn you!" the cell occupant declared, as his hand delivered an incapacitating karate chop to the guard's windpipe!

Hay Lin's sudden appearance had so unnerved and distracted the Fire Nation security officer that he backed up too close to the prison cell, home to one of the most dangerous fire benders alive!

Though the magical properties of his jail prevented him from bending any fire, the special prisoner had many skills.

Moving with a speed that belied his age, the man behind the bars whipped an arm around, holding his captor in a headlock while he applied pressure to a key artery in the neck, knocking out the guard who then quietly slumped to the floor.

"Quickly!" the prisoner implored the girls. "Take his key and unlock my cell!"

With all the fight temporarily taken out of the sentry, Taranee and Hay Lin easily freed the detainee.

"When we got out of the prison we saw the mess you guys were in." Taranee Cook brought her companions up to speed. "But not even Iroh could fight that many soldiers, so I thought I could use my 'Fire Angel' rep and Iroh's fire bending to scare them off." she explained to Toph, Irma and Cornelia.

"And I helped!" Hay Lin beamed, proudly displaying the large hammer she found near the door of the detention facility, and which made an impressive addition to the Fire Guardian's plan. Using their telepathic contact, Taranee directed the invisible Hay Lin to strike walls and objects ahead of Iroh's fire dragon, while Iroh followed Tara's arm movements to guide the dragon to its targets. Taranee conducted a symphony of fire and destruction, and sent the pack of fire whelps running!

Buoyed by their success against the fire benders, the Air Guardian almost seemed to be back to her chipper, old self.

"You're Iroh? I thought you'd be older." Cornelia said, noting Iroh's middle-aged appearance and lack of facial hair, so different from the few paintings she had seen of him.

"Phobos glamoured him so no one would know who he was." the Fire Guardian pointed out.

"Oh."

"I didn't like it at first, but, as long as pretty ladies like yourself find it pleasing, I think I'll keep it." Iroh smiled.

_Ew!! Did the old dude just hit on me??_ Cornelia thought-communicated to her Guardian friends, holding her hand in front of her mouth to prevent her from barfing.

_It's not all about you, Corny! _Irma telepathically retorted.

_Actually, I think he was hitting on all of us! _ Taranee thought-added.

_That's even worse! Double Ew!_ Cornelia telepathically replied.

_I believe that calls for the rare Triple Ew!_ Irma thought-quipped.

"You do sound very handsome." Toph threw in her two cents. She had tea with Iroh months ago when Toph ran away from the GAang, and he helped her then. "A good voice, at least!"

"No one asked you, Toph!" Irma snapped. In an odd sign of their improved relationship, Irma now treated the Earth Kingdom girl just as (poorly as) she did Cornelia.

"Enough chit-chat! We don't have a lot of time! Those soldiers will probably return with reinforcements!" Tara shouted. "Now that we're all together, we have to get Will!"

Quickly assembling in the storehouse cellar, the four Guardians surrounded the trapped form of their leader who was held in a perpetual sleepstate due to Zuko's use of the Heart of Candracar.

"We can bring her back if we combine our powers." Taranee theorized.

"How can we? Zuko took our powers away!" Hay Lin depressingly noted.

"That's where you're wrong! Zuko robbed us of our Guardian powers, yes, but he could never steal our greatest power - friendship!" Tara boasted.

"Geez, now I'm gagging on all the sugar in that little speech! Agk gak!" Irma joked.

"Oh, just join hands, Irma!" the simple and down to earth Cornelia annoyingly retorted, grasping Hay Lin's palm and extending her hand toward the exasperating Water Guardian.

"It makes sense, when you think about it." the brainy Taranee Cook speculated. "Together, we're all of the elements, like Will's energy is all of the elements combined, except we're here on this world and Will is, I think, somehow out of phase with us. That's why she can't hear us. So by becoming more like her, we harmonize ourselves with her structure, connecting with her and at the same time providing a path back to our world for her."

"Okay, who does not understand the 'hold hands' thing?" Irma mocked her long-winded friend.

Once they had all joined hands, they concentrated, thought of Will, chanted, did whatever they could think of that could possibly reach their lost leader, and thennnnnn.....

...Nothing!

There was no response, no discernible change in the frozen state of Will Vandom.

"Oh no!" Hay Lin cried. "It's hopeless!"

"That...that should have worked!" a puzzled Taranee exclaimed. "I don't understand..."

"Corny, do you think maybe if you picked up that energy thing holding Will with your tele-whatzis and dropped it off a roof it would break?" Irma offered.

"That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Cornelia railed.

"Children, please!" Iroh sought to calm the situation. "Don't fight! Could there be another way to achieve our goals?"

"Yeah, if Iroh's one of those fire benders who can bend lightning, maybe he can zap lightning at Will's cage and break it, like we did with our energy bonds when Zuko held us?!" Irma spilled her brainstorm.

"What, and hurt Will??" the much more cautious Cornelia Hale raged. "That thing _surrounds_ Will, Irma! It's no little band of energy like we had! That much electricity could kill her! Think before you shoot your mouth off!"

"I'm only trying to help!" Irma Lair shot back. "I don't hear any better ideas coming out of _your_ mouth!"

"Ladies, please! This is getting us nowhere!" Iroh, the voice of wisdom and reason, spoke.

"Forget it, sir!" Toph wittily interjected. "This is them on a good day!"

"OK, you two, dial it down!" Taranee assumed command. "Irma had a good idea - sort of!"

"I did??!" the pleasantly surprised Irma replied.

"Yes. If Iroh can bend lightning, as I've heard, then maybe he can tear a hole in that field around Zuko's Palace, and we can end whatever craziness he has planned for Aang and stop this war!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Irma gave her upbeat opinion of the strategy.

"Sounds good to me!" Cornelia agreed.

"Fine! Then let's get out of here before Zindao and his men come back!" Taranee hurriedly declared.

Though she didn't mention it to the others, the Fire Guardian was worried about more than Zuko and his guards. For you see, when Taranee visited the Knowledge Spirit, Wan Shi Tong, he told her the end of the world was coming, and the Fire Lord was its messenger!

Nearby, unnoticed by the Guardians and their allies, the empty part of the adjoining storeroom glittered in the soft light. There was something there, in the air, something thin and golden that crisscrossed the space.

ooooooooooooooo

**CRASH**

**BAM!**

Seized by righteous anger over the harsh treatment of her friends (and especially of the boy she loved, although she'd never admit that little fact to herself), Katara repeatedly forced the Fire Lord to hurt himself!

Then, when Zuko fell silent and appeared unconscious, the Southern Water Tribe girl released her hold on him, and he tumbled helplessly to the floor.

At that moment, Katara realized she had done what she told Irma and the old woman in the market she would never do, but her misgivings quickly vanished when she remembered the one Zuko had tortured so mercilessly.

"Aang?" she called out. "It's going to be okay. I got him! But don't ask me what just happened, okay? I never want to do that again!" Katara said as she reached for the vial which still held some of the precious water of the Spirits, then bent the drops that had spilled back into the vial. She planned to use the special water to free the Avatar from his imprisonment.

"That's too bad." the voice behind her said. "Because you're going to have to!!"

The Heart of Candracar had granted the Fire Nation teen amazing powers of recuperation, in addition to its many other gifts.

"Zuko!" Katara exclaimed, as she got into a water bending stance. "I'll..." she hesitated, and lost her moment.

"You'll what? Kill me??" Zuko teased, as he wrapped his limbs in the power of the Heart so they could not be moved by _anything_, least of all a blood bender, and levitated toward the young girl.

"Because that's the only way you'll stop me!!" the Fire Lord declared in an angry huff. When he got close to Katara, Zuko released his arms from the force field and grabbed her!

He then dragged the struggling water bender to an adjoining room.

"You surprise me." the steely-eyed son of Ozai coldly commented. "And I don't like surprises!"

He held her down, covering her body with his.

"Stop fighting!" Zuko urged her. "It'll all be over very soon." he said, his hot breath running oddly icy as he exhaled on her face.

"**Aang!**" the terrified teen girl screamed, right before Zuko muzzled her with a band of energy over her mouth.

"Katara!!" Aang impotently bellowed.

"You should have finished the job." Zuko soullessly noted to his helpless captive. "It would have been a mercy."

The Heart of Candracar's pink energy lit up the small space, following which Zuko rose up, revealing Katara was bound to the dirty floor with separate bands of Candracan force fields that held the gagged girl's arms, legs, head and body, each in an unbreakable, iron grip. Only her eyes were free to move, darting to and fro, full of fear.

"But don't worry. I will." he impassively added.

Then, in full sight of the last air bender, the son of Ursa produced a hunting knife from his tunic and slashed Katara's jugular, butchering the water bender like she was nothing more than livestock!

As the life-giving fluid drained out of her, the cheerful, loving, loyal, kind (if a bit Mom-like) girl from the Southern Water Tribe breathed her last.

**KATARAAAAAA!!! **Her name erupted from Aang's mighty air bender lungs.

Then, for but a moment, he fell silent.

"No. No. It can't be." Aang croaked. As he took in the enormity of Zuko's murderous act, the Avatar seemed devoid of life.

Then all his turbulent emotions coalesced into one of pure rage!

"**You killed her!!**" Aang gave a full-throated yell. "**I'll kill you, Zuko!!**"

Quickly, the enraged air bender summoned the power of the Avatar State and broke his bonds.

_Yes! Finally! _Zuko grinned.

There was only one more negative chakra to be opened, and then victory would be his!

The maddened Avatar State Aang barreled into the Fire Lord with such force, they broke through the barrier around the Palace!

High above the Red Zone, Aang called on the power and knowledge of past Avatars to prepare for him for his grim task, and his body and tattoos glowed with the intensity of a small sun.

Zuko, too, increased in strength, power and radiance.

The clouds parted momentarily, and the reason became clear: The comet had returned!

The two mega-powered opponents hung there for a moment in the sky, then the battle was joined!

Aang vs. Zuko, for the fate of the world!

ooooooooooooooo

"Zuko said he has something planned for Aang. Something terrible, I'm sure! But why would he capture Katara, too? Heck, why would he doing any of this with the comet about to arrive?? It makes no sense!" the upset Water Guardian ranted.

On the way out of the old storehouse next to the Fire Institute training grounds, while climbing the long flights of stairs, Irma, Toph, Cornelia, Taranee and Hay Lin peppered Iroh with many questions. The girls sought the retired general's guidance and wisdom concerning Zuko and the present, horrible situation.

"Is the Avatar close to this young girl?" Iroh asked.

Irma and Hay Lin looked at each other, then Irma answered. "Well, yeah. You could say that. Aang...really cares for Katara."

"He loves her!" Hay Lin clarified. "Although I don't know if he told her, so maybe we should keep that fact among ourselves."

"Zuko, Zuko, my boy...What are you doing??!" Iroh sadly said. "Were my sins so terrible?"

The past replayed in Iroh's mind - the last time he had seen his nephew, after the teen ascended to the throne of Fire Lord and confronted Iroh at the cell the devious sorcerer Phobos had locked him in.

_Why, Uncle? Why didn't you tell me my destiny was to be the Avatar??!_

_Nephew...I did not know if any of the strange sights I witnessed in the realm of the Spirits were true. When I awoke after my sojourn there, it seemed as if a dream! But I always loved you and wanted the best for you._

_Liar!! _Zuko raged. _You never thought me worthy of being the Avatar, and actively prevented my destiny! You can stay here and rot!_

_Zuko, no! Who told you these things? They are using..._

But it was too late. The former Prince had slammed the door to the prison behind him.

And Iroh couldn't help but blame himself.

Because, while it's true he did not believe the prophecy the Spirits had given him years ago, _at first, _when the young Prince faced his father, Fire Lord Ozai, in an Agni Kai and was scarred, driving Zuko into the arms of his 'beloved' Uncle, Iroh saw how he was to become the boy's mentor, and began to suspect the Spirits were right. Secretly, in the darkest recesses of his heart, Iroh selfishly cheered Zuko's banishment, because he got to spend more time with the nephew he considered like a son after suffering the loss of his own son, Lu Ten, in the war.

_Zuko..._Iroh grieved. _I am so sorry for everything!_

"Sir, do you have any idea what your nephew has planned?" Taranee inquired, interrupting Iroh's reverie.

"I'm afraid I do. Have you ever heard the theory of the Anti-Avatar?" Iroh queried.

"Sorry. They didn't cover Avatars in school. Although, people do use them as little pictures on the internet." wise-cracking Irma interjected.

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind!" Irma sheepishly replied, then smiled. Her modern-day comedy had bombed yet again, but now she was used to it. "Go on."

"According to Avatar scholars, the Anti-Avatar could be invoked only if an Avatar proved unworthy. That is, his powers could be taken from him and given to another." Iroh elaborated. "However, no Avatar has ever had his abilities forcibly removed from him for cause, because by definition an Avatar must be worthy in order to manifest his bending. The sages believe the Anti-Avatar option was created as a failsafe, in case the world was threatened by dark evil the current Avatar, due to extreme injury, could not stop. But it's never been used, except by…"

"The Dark Avatar!" Toph exclaimed.

"Who's the Dark Avatar?" the curious Taranee sought more information.

"He was a real jerk! Everyone hated him!" Toph replied. The Bei Fong girl had paid attention, in her own special way, to her history tutors back when she lived with her family.

"He was one of the more skilled, yet intensely troubled, Avatars of times past." Iroh explained. "One of Aang's people, an Air Nomad, but that was all they had in common. He was selfish, concerned only with his own needs, but that was not why he is so hated, even to this day."

Iroh sighed, and continued the ancient, tragic tale. "As he lay dying, nearly destroyed by his enemies, he could not bear to see his loved ones suffer because of his failure. So he activated his negative chakras and passed the multi-elemental bending abilities of the Avatar to his young assistant, who went on to save the Avatar's family."

"So? That doesn't sound so 'dark' to me!" Irma commented. "Seems pretty heroic, actually!"

"You don't understand!" Iroh cried. "The boy was unschooled in the use of such great power! He did save the Avatar's wife and children, but at the cost of his own life! The Dark Avatar sent the youngster to his death!"

Irma, Cornelia, Taranee and Hay Lin experienced a sudden shock of recognition. The story sounded..._familiar_.

"The Dark Avatar disappeared after such a scandalous end to his career, and ever since, he has been reviled, purged from the long list of Avatars." Iroh added.

"Uh, did this guy have a name?" Irma wondered.

"He did, but none ever speak it because of the dishonor he brought on the mantle of the Avatar." Iroh calmly replied. "He was called Himerish."

Three of the Guardians were stunned into silence. But not Irma.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!!" the cop's daughter swore.

"Irma!!!" Hay Lin sputtered, hand over mouth, shocked beyond belief her best friend would use language like that!

"But, but if Zuko is trying to activate this 'Anti-Avatar' in Aang to steal his power..." Taranee struggled to make sense of the situation after that soul-shattering revelation. "...Why all the drama with Cornelia, the whole Plant Spirit thing?"

"I do not know. But I fear the worst. My nephew has been under the influence of dark forces! Who knows what evil they plan to unleash?" Iroh despaired.

Unfortunately, not even the wise old leader of the Order of the White Lotus had any inkling of the world-wrecking crisis to come.

Emerging out of the storehouse, the way appeared clear.

However, once they all exited and began their trek across the courtyard, elite Fire Army soldiers emerged out of the shadows and surrounded them!

"Halt! Your defiance is at an end!" Captain of the Guard Zindao ordered. Then he noticed Iroh. "Ah. I see you've freed Zuko's 'special prisoner'!"

"Let us go, Zindao!" Iroh exhorted the decorated military officer. "You do not know who you are dealing with!" the fire bending master huffed.

"Oh, I know who you are, General!" Zindao spat. "And what we have here is a collection of outworlders and traitors! I will be honored for my actions this evening! None of you will be allowed to complicate my plans!!"

"You would take the Fire Lord's vengeance away from him, and incur his wrath?" the surprised Iroh stated.

"I wouldn't worry about the wrath of the Fire Lord after tonight!" Captain Zindao leered at the mostly powerless heroes. "No one can save you now!"

ooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, in another part of the Capital City, the thick clouds covering the sky parted, and it appeared to observers on the ground that the comet was not only early, but the starlike speck was getting larger and larger all the time, as if it was on a direct (collision) course!

Definitely..._To Be Continued!_

_Next:_

_It's all been leading up to this!_

_The battle you've waited a lifetime for!_

_(Well, a few years, anyway!)_

_Zuko vs. Aang,_

_and the fate of the world hangs in the balance!_

_(I always wanted to say that!)_

_Plus:_

_Can the powerless Guardians defeat the devious Zindao, leader of the insurgent cabal, The Third Way?_

_And even if they do, can __anyone__ save the world from Koh's evil scheme??_

_Also:_

_More surprises I can't even hint at!!_

Notes

Cornelia met Jun Yi in the associated story "Day of Black Sunlight". Also, Jun was in the club shut down by the Fire Nation army in the opening to Chapter 8.

Everything's been so serious lately, what with all the high drama and suicidal thoughts and should I kill this person today and whatnot, so thank God for the tag comedy team supreme of Irma and Cornelia! (Plus Toph!) I needed the funny. The story really needs more of a balance, but there were times I just couldn't get the humor in. And I really did miss Corny and Irma mixing it up. They're one of the best duos out there.

Chan and Ruon Jian first appeared in the _Avatar _season 3 episode "The Beach". It was their party Ozai's Angels (plus Zuko) trashed. Chan's dad is an admiral, so he'd be sure to get his slacker son on the fire bending list (also his pal Ruon Jian, after Chan begged daddy).

Cornelia's (mis)adventure with Jet was detailed in Chapter 14 of _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar._

In this alternate reality, Aang never received instruction from Guru Pathik on opening his chakras (as seen in Chapter 4), leaving Aang vulnerable to Zuko's plot.

Zuko is on so focused on his 'mission' to become the Avatar he doesn't even bother to learn the names of Aang's companions. I'm sure he's heard Sokka and Katara's names mentioned before, but he forgets them, as he deems it unimportant. Also, he calls Hay Lin and Irma 'air girl' and 'water girl', respectively.

There are seven chakras, which are opened by seven states, and blocked by seven corresponding anti- (or negative) chakras. They are Earth (Survival/Fear), Water (Pleasure/Guilt), Fire (Willpower/Shame), Air (Love/Grief), Sound (Truth/Lies), Light (Insight/Illusion) and Thought (Cosmic Energy/Earthly Attachment). Also, the chakras are associated with different parts of the body. The element I add to the mythology is that activation of all of the negative chakras blocks the Avatar State from the Avatar entirely, and results in him or her losing their very Avatarness.

Iroh couldn't escape his cell by himself because he was held there by a combination of Phobos' original magic and the power of the Heart wielded by Zuko.

Anyone who was hoping for some Zutara since Zuko was going to get upclose with Katara, well, the odds of that happening look to be between zip and zilch after the events of this chapter. Which doesn't mean it's impossible.

On September 22, the sun sets at 6:47 PM. If there was a full moon on that date, it would rise a few minutes earlier at approximately 6:37 PM.

Himerish is the real name of the Oracle, the leader of the Council of Candracar who gave the Guardians their elemental powers.


	13. Finale Part 2 Black Dawn

**Author's Note: The big showdown chapter! And when I say 'big', I mean BIG! Aang vs. Zuko - the battle that should have been, but never was, right here in this installment! Meanwhile, the powerless Guardians confront the devious conspiracy eating away at the heart of the Fire Nation, The Third Way!**

**Plus, the end of the world. No big.**

**And even more surprises!**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

"Fire. Earth. Water. Air. Long ago these four elements lived in harmony, but then everything changed when the Guardians arrived! Only Aang the Avatar, master of all four elements, could end their interference and restore the elemental balance. But when the world needed him most, he was elsewhere. Time passed, and the Guardians' most valuable object and the greatest force the world has ever known, the Heart of Candracar, fell into the hands of our most hated enemy, endangering everyone on the planet! Although the Guardians mean well, and still possess great power, they have a lot to learn of our ways before they can save anyone. As for Aang...Faced with a challenge greater than any he has ever known, I still believe Aang can save the world...But I fear he won't be able to save himself."

Chapter 12: Finale Part 2 - Black Dawn,

Or,

Oh, Say, Can You See

_Death is dawn, the waking from a weary night of fevers unto truth and light._

- James Russell Lowell

High above the Fire Nation's Capital City, out of sight of most whose lives were confined to the ground, a battle for the future of humanity raged.

Avatar State Aang versus Fire Lord Zuko!

Encircled by the four elements at his command - fire, water, earth and air - Aang easily batted away the Fire Lord's arcs of electrified fire, then blew ultra-powerful blasts of air at the power-hungry leader of the Fire Lands!

_**WHOOOSHHHHH**_

Though Zuko was empowered by the appropriated Heart of Candracar and set an impervious shield of energy before him, the force of the unseen element's impact was so great he tumbled across the twilight sky and bore a hole halfway through one of the mountains that ringed the city!

**BOOOOMMM!!**

ooooooooooooooo

Moments before Captain Zindao cornered our heroes with his crack team of Fire Army troops...

After failing to free their leader, Will, the four elemental Guardians grilled their enemy's uncle for information crucial to derailing the mad Fire Lord's plans.

"Okay, so Zuko needs Aang to activate this 'Anti-Avatar' thing to take his power for himself, but why grab Katara? What does she have to do with it?" Irma, concerned about the fate of her fellow water elemental, asked wise old Uncle Iroh, leader of the Order of the White Lotus.

"If the Avatar loves this girl, as has been said, then it is clear why Zuko involved her." Iroh explained. "Love unlocks the seventh, and last, negative chakra. It is the final step Zuko needs to take to claim ultimate power."

"Love is a _negative _chakra?" a confused Cornelia inquired.

"Love is attachment to worldly things, and an Avatar must be able to forgo all attachments to join with the energy of the Universe." the former general clarified.

"They expect a young boy to not care about games, or food? Lots of luck!" Irma quipped.

"So love is a bad thing? I don't think I like that idea!" Corny bristled at the thought love could be a negative.

"No, love is a very good thing, and many gladly forsake power for love." Iroh commented. Then his mood turned dark and somber. "Unfortunately, I do not believe my nephew is among them."

ooooooooooooooo

The feisty Fire Nation teen recovered quickly, and rose up into the air to once more challenge his enemy.

However, Zuko was surrounded on three sides by the element of earth.

A fact the Avatar used to his advantage. Aang bent the _entire_ rocky mountain, causing it to fall on the conniving Fire Lord!

**RRR-**_**RUMBLE **_

**KRAAASHHH!**

ooooooooooooooo

Moments ago, but a world away...

Katara found herself in darkness.

A _wet, _damp darkness, unable to move!

_What the?!? Where am I?? _she anxiously wondered.

She was still bound from head to foot in the weird energy Zuko used to entrap Aang and herself.

But the cold, clammy, claustrophobic surroundings felt far different than the overheated tropical lands of the Fire Nation!

Even the air tasted strange, not at all like the South Pole or the Earth Kingdom or anyplace she had ever been before!

Was she dead?

Had Zuko killed her, and she was in the Spirit World, doomed to spend eternity trussed up like a hunter's trophy game??

For a moment, the thought of being in the Spirit World comforted Katara. Wasn't her deceased brother, Sokka, a resident of the Spirit World?

Then...

...Something brushed against her feet!

Katara flinched, but couldn't do anything to protect herself from whatever was around her!

"It's a caveling. A minor Spirit. And nothing to be concerned about." a voice from the darkness said.

_Who?? _Katara moved her head toward the voice, though her restraints made that difficult.

There was a little light on that side, but it was still hard to see whoever was there.

"Hm mmh!" Katara struggled to say 'help me' through her gag of otherworldly energy.

"It's no use. I'm as trapped as you." the being answered. "I surmise you met the one known as Zuko, also? Such drive. Such determination. Such crazy gold eyes! But, you take what you can get! Am I right??"

Katara could make out a cage, and someone with a round head, but little more. _How can you joke at a time like this? _she thought.

"Hmmm. By your dress, I'd say you're of the Water Tribe. Are you a water bender?? It would be helpful if you were, since you're literally in your element!" the man spoke.

Yes, Katara could feel the wetness seep in through her sandals, and on the side she lay on. But so what? She was tied up like a turkey-pig! There's no way she could bend anything!

"If I were you teach you a bending form that would free you, would you also free me of my confinement?" the man with the silly voice asked.

"Yrr" Katara uttered.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Okay, then..." the man continued. "...Your fingers are unfettered. You have to move them just as you would your arms and legs. Your thumb becomes your head, and the other four are your limbs. Feel the energy flow, and you should have no problem."

Katara tried, but it was so bizarre! As she tried to mimic her water bending forms with the fingers on her right hand, she would feel the water bend for a second, but then lose it as she reflexively, involuntarily bent one finger slightly out of alignment!

"Is that the best you can do??" the male voice, which now sounded different, criticized.

Katara tried again, and was able to levitate a thin stream of water in front of her, but just as quickly as it was formed, once her pinky jerked slightly, it was gone just as fast!

"And you call herself a water bender?! I knew water benders of old who could bend a river with a twitch of their eyebrows!" the man who suddenly, and rather oddly, sounded elderly, bitched.

_Shut...up!!! _Katara mentally cried. Then she set once again on her task. Her fingers flowed in a miniaturized version of a water bending form, and Katara bent the liquid around her into a whip. She fastened the whip to the force field holding her left arm, and pulled!

But to do that, she had to hold the form with her fingers! One slight twitch, and she'd have to start all over again!

The pain was excruciating!

But Katara had to do it!

_Come on, come on..._she pep-talked herself. _You can do this! Pullll!!!_

Katara collapsed, and thought she had failed.

But then she felt her left side. Her arm was free! She had managed to draw the energy field back enough that her limb slipped out!

Soon, the master water bender extricated herself from the rest of Zuko's energy bonds.

Then Katara approached her mysterious, caged benefactor.

He ran excitedly to the front of his prison, causing an eerie skittering sound as he did.

In the dim light, Katara saw him. Saw his round, Noh mask face, and his many, centipedal legs.

It was Koh!

Katara recognized the dangerous Spirit from Aang's description, and reflexively uttered "What are you??" though she knew the answer to her question as soon as she said it.

"You don't know?" Koh asked. "You're the Avatar's favorite, aren't you? Hasn't he told you about me? Yes, I can see by your...face...you do know me." Koh's tongue slithered all over the word 'face', causing Katara to shudder involuntarily. She knew what this Spirit did to faces! He stole them!

"Stay away!" she exclaimed, backing away as far as she could in the narrow cave.

"Won't you let me out?" Koh beseeched. "Isn't the word of a Water Tribeswoman worth anything, anymore?"

"I, I never promised! I didn't know what, who, you were, or I'd never..!" Katara croaked, struggling to find the proper words to respond.

"Calm yourself." Koh gently said. "If you free me, I promise I won't harm you!"

Katara considered the offer, but if this was Koh, that meant she was in the Spirit World! How would she return to her world? Swiftly, she came up with a plan.

"If you can get me out of the Spirit World, and back to my world...I'll send someone to free you." Katara offered, thinking Aang was the best choice to confront the face-stealer.

"Very well!" Koh sighed, and pointed to the vertical line down the cave's tunnel from which issued the only illumination. "That is the portal Zuko used to deliver you here. You can probably still squeeze through."

"Thank you." Katara politely replied. She had expected much worse from the dread Spirit, and would have freed him then and there if he hadn't so thoroughly creeped her out! "I'll send help as soon as I can."

"Heh. Don't worry about me! I've been through much tougher situations than this!" the Noh-masked Spirit laughingly commented. "Worry about yourself!" he added in a much darker, sinister tone.

"What??" Katara turned towards the odd, threatening Spirit, and noticed his face had changed. He now sported the features of a young woman with long, brown hair.

And the woman looked...vaguely Water Tribe-ish.

"He needs you." the woman who appeared to an ancient Water Tribeswoman gently said. "Go to him. Before it's too late."

"I, I will." Katara promised. But was it a promise to herself?

Or to this woman, who seemed so full of sorrow and regret?

Then the Southern Water Tribe girl was gone, slipped through the portal back to her world.

Koh's Noh mask returned. He gazed at the departing, full of emotion, water bender, sighed, and said in a voice neither silly nor sinister, but serious, and full of longing. "Such a waste!"

ooooooooooooooo

"I wouldn't worry about the wrath of the Fire Lord after tonight!" Captain Zindao leered at Toph, Iroh and the powerless Guardians. "No one can save you now!"

"Uh oh! That doesn't sound good!" Irma reflexively uttered.

Captain of the Guard Zindao and his elite squad of Fire Army troopers heroes. There would be no tricking these expert fire benders!

Well, almost all of them were expert fire benders.

"Did you see that?" one of the troopers said to the soldier next to him. "Someone just snuck into the store room!"

"Dude, we're on, like, double secret probation!" replied the Fire Army military man to his fellow recruit. The armor fit him rather poorly and, in an effort to get more comfortable, he lifted his helmet, revealing it was Chan, and the teen next to him was his friend Ruon Jian. "The only reason Captain Zindao didn't boot our butts is 'cause my dad's the Admiral! So if I saw anything that would make the Captain mad, I'd forget about it!"

"Forget what now??" Ruon Jian retorted, quickly assuming an innocent act. "I didn't see anything!"

"You're plotting against Zuko?? I can't believe you would betray your own country, Zindao!" Cornelia spat at the renegade Captain.

"Me?? No, it's his family that has led our great nation to ruin!" Captain Zindao argued, pointing an accusing finger at Iroh, son of Azulon, brother of Ozai and uncle of Zuko, Fire Lords all. "Their rule has alternated from unending war with no victory to peace-loving embrace of soft, corrupting outworlder ways! But after today, that will all change! We of The Third Way are the real patriots! The Third Way, followers of the True Way of Fire, will restore our glorious nation and make it preeminent around the globe, as it should be!"

"Oh, please!" Cornelia scoffed. "We've heard it all before, in history class! And all the pretty words in the world won't change the fact you're nothing but another petty tyrant wannabe! The people will never accept another dictator! Not after having tasted freedom!"

"Really? How naive you are!" Zindao laughed. "How little you know of the ways you would destroy! The people of the Fire Nation want a strong leader! They need to be told what to do! All this 'freedom of choice' confuses them! And a volunteer army leads to a military force full of these fools!" he said, indicating Chan and Ruon Jian.

"Hey!" Chan shouted.

"Cornelia's not naive! She knows perfectly well what you are!"

"Thanks, Irma!"

"No problem!"

"Zuko may have done some bad things, but at least he sincerely wants to help the people of the Fire Nation! Unlike you and your 'Third Way', who are nothing but power-mad, filthy opportu-unhhh!" Cornelia cried, and got slapped in the face for expressing her brutally frank views.

Zindao had had enough of the high and mighty former 'Plant Spirit'!

"Silence! These men are loyal to me! There will be no grandstanding Agni Kais!" the villainous Zindao exclaimed as the stunned Cornelia Hale rubbed her tender red cheek.

Irma and Taranee felt like delivering a harsh response after the act of violence committed against their teammate, but the soldiers' sharp swords and spears convinced them otherwise.

"Protecting the poor, widdle plants and animals!" Zindao squeaked in a funny voice, mocking Cornelia and Taranee's efforts to save and reinvigorate the environment. "Giving away precious funds to old people, instead of using them for the greater glory of the Fire Nation!" Zindao criticized Zuko's Society Security old age pension program. "Stealing fire bending from those who earned it." Zindao said in a stern tone, then cast his gaze upon two members of his own unit before continuing. "And granting it to those who don't deserve it!"

"Hey!" Ruon Jian shouted.

"Worst of all, those 'music clubs'!" Zindao shuddered as he spoke the despised words.

"Why didn't you just hang a sign on the Fire Nation that said "Earth Kingdom - Please Invade - We're Weak!" he ranted.

"Okay, so you're not just power-mad opportunists. You're nutty power-mad opportunists!" Irma zinged. War was the last thing the people of the Earth Kingdom wanted. And the few leaders Irma had met - King Bumi, Chief Hakoda - they only fought as a last resort. Most of the warriors wanted to go home to their families. Maybe a couple of generals were itching for a chance at revenge, but they were clearly in the minority, and reined in by their superiors. "Sounds like someone's been hitting the fire ale a bit too much!" she quipped, drawing a giggle from Toph, who tried (unsuccessfully) to hold it in.

Zindao stared with hateful eyes at the Water Guardian. "I hope you enjoyed that. It'll be the last thing you ever do! Soldiers, assume fire squad formation!" he ordered.

"Don't do this, Zindao!" Iroh demanded. "Though these girls may come from a place unknown to us, I am sure they are here for a reason, and therefore important to the balance of our world. Don't make the same mistake your Uncle, Admiral Zhao, did!"

"I know what my Uncle did, General Iroh." Zindao curtly said, referring to Zhao's plan to extinguish water bending by killing the Moon Spirit, which would have destroyed the balance of the world. The would-be Fire Lord rejected the comparison, as the Guardians were not of this world, nor even of the Spirit World. "But I am not my Uncle! Unlike him, I respect the Spirits! The true Spirits, who wisely stay out of our affairs! I also know how you betrayed my Uncle and the whole Fire Nation at the North Pole!" Capt. Zindao growled.

"Then you must know I will not let you get away with this!" Iroh forcefully declared. Immediately, the master fire bender assumed a fighting stance.

"My plan right now is to eliminate the interference of these meddlesome outworlders before they do irreparable damage to our great nation." Zindao calmly said as he eyed the Guardians. "The younger generation may be lost to us for the moment due to the interlopers' love of frivolity, but it's nothing a few months in the coal mines won't cure!" he grinned. "However, if you would like to be added to the list…" he said to Iroh. "...Or the blind girl…" Zindao menacingly added. The corrupt Captain cupped Toph's chin in his cold hand. "...Then that can be arranged." Toph recoiled at his touch, but the point had been made.

Iroh lowered his hands and hung his head, shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I thought so." Zindao gloated.

"Well, it's been nice knowing all of you!" Toph Bei Fong dead-panned.

"Same here, Toph!" Irma sincerely replied.

"Big talk, Zindao, but even with us out of the way, there's no way you'll beat Zuko!" Taranee Cook rebuked the Captain of the Guard. "He's way more powerful than any army you can put together!"

Zindao regarded the Fire Guardian warily. Of all the Guardians, he hated her the most! While he loathed Cornelia's soft, corrupting 'Plant Spirit' ways, the Fire Angel made a mockery of fire benders' strength, because they received their power from anger, and she didn't. The outworlder with skin the color of burnt umber used her fire-making abilities for illumination, knowledge, the preservation of life itself, and not combat. Taranee showed the people of the Fire Nation the Way of Fire can take another path. Therefore, Zindao greatly enjoyed proving her wrong!

"Oh, I already have that worked out! If the Avatar is not up to the task, heh, well, Zuko handed us the means to his own destruction in that structure he built on the mountain! And all the blame will fall on the supposed 'leader' of the Third Way, that obnoxious Sen Po!" Zindao sneered. "Then we'll show the foul invaders the full might of the Fire Nation, including my War Dragons! We'll be heroes!" Zindao revealed his plans with mad glee.

"Then it was YOU who released the dragons on the people, and not Zuko???" Hay Lin yelped in surprise, finally recognizing the voice of the military officer who ordered the dragons' brazen attack on the citizens of the Capitol belonged to Zindao.

"Pfft! Zuko wanted to keep the dragons in the Honor Guard and use them for parades and ceremonies! He had no idea of their true worth to the Fire Nation!" the fiery Captain mocked the sensitive Fire Lord. "Enough of this!" he barked. "Soldiers, assume fire bending positions!"

The Fire Army troops got into their fire fighting stances in front of Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin and formed a firing squad.

In open defiance of Zindao, the four girls extended their hands to each other and grabbed hold.

United to the end!

"On my mark..."

Before the executioners let loose their deadly bursts of all-consuming fire, someone launched themselves at the voice issuing the orders!

Toph!

"F...Wha??"

"Get out of here!!" the former Blind Bandit yelled. Though bereft of her earth bending, Toph still retained plenty of courage. "I'll hold them off!"

The Bei Fong girl hung on the arm of Captain Zindao, who was too flabbergasted to immediately respond, and repeatedly kicked the rebel leader!

Which totally messed up the escape plan!

The Guardians had telepathically communicated with each other and had come up with a strategy utilizing their various powers: Irma would use her gift of suggestion to confuse their foes, Hay Lin would disappear to clear a path through the fire benders that separated them from Iroh and Toph, and Cornelia would telekinetically fling the dirt she had collected from the ground (and from the other girls, who passed it to her when they held hands) through the eye and mouth openings of the helmets of any other Fire Nation soldiers threatening them. Once they were all together, Iroh would use his mastery of fire bending to discourage pursuit, and hopefully even bring down the gate of the Fire Institute, trapping Zindao and his men inside.

With a glance his way, Iroh had understood what they planned.

It was a bold, risky move, and held some small chance of success if they moved quickly.

But Toph, being blind and non-telepathic, had no way to know what the others intended to do.

"Get off me!!" Zindao shrieked, and tossed the fighting mad Earth Kingdom girl into the dirt!

The two-time fire bending champion of the Fire Army then bent electricity in his hand, about to use it against the helpless lass sprawled on the ground!

With Toph in trouble, the girls hesitated, unsure of whether to go forward with their plan or do something to help Toph, who they knew they wouldn't be able to reach in time!

But Iroh, being closer, didn't waste a moment!

Unaware of the danger, Toph got to her feet.

And stood right in the path of Zindao's electric attack!

"Little miss! Watch out!!" Iroh screamed.

The retired General jumped in front of the blind girl, who had no idea what was going on, and absorbed the sizzling blast of lightning!

However, with only a split second to steel himself for the massive charge of energy, Iroh was unable to release all of it, and some got trapped in his stomach!

(Although the amount of electricity he did shoot out of his left hand into the sky caused quite a lightshow!)

Seriously injured, Iroh fell to the hard, unyielding surface of the Fire Institute's training grounds.

"Sir! Are you alright??" Toph cried. Though without sight, she knew something real bad had happened.

"Haven't tried that stunt since I injured my shoulder, and it didn't work out so well then, either." Iroh joked, making light of his wounds so as not to worry Toph.

It was only due to the fact that Iroh had been held prisoner for months, with plenty of time to exercise and avoid the rich foods he craved, that he was even able to survive such a terrible blow.

Though not everyone had such a high opinion of the General's achievements.

"You disgust me, General Iroh!" Captain Zindao spat. "It's that kind of weakness that cost us Ba Sing Se!"

Then the traitorous Zindao turned his attentions once again to the four Guardians.

"This time, there will be no interruptions! Soldiers!" he announced.

With their one viable hope for escape down for the count, it looked as if the girls' gooses would surely be cooked!

ooooooooooooooo

Alighting on the rubble, all that remained of the _former _mountain, Aang quickly located his prey and trapped the beaten Zuko in thick, stone manacles.

"It's over, Zuko." Aang's voice echoed authoritatively with all the power the Avatar State afforded him.

"You stupid fool!" Zuko raised his head and laughed. "You still don't get it! I'm the one in charge here!"

With merely a glance, the Heart of Candracar-wielding teen commanded the rocks holding him to come to life and dance.

"I've merely been playing with you!" Zuko chortled.

ooooooooooooooo

Katara thought she said seen everything after confronting monsters like the sea beast unagi, Aang's Avatar State and now Koh the Face-Stealer, but then she emerged on the other side of the portal to a bizarre, bloody scene!

Her own death!

It was her, or someone who looked EXACTLY like her, and she had been killed, stabbed in the neck and allowed to bleed out!

It was horrifying!

Straining to make sense of it all, Katara spotted a piece of parchment on the floor next to the dead girl.

Scanning the note, Katara read the two odd words written on it: "Spord lartsa?"

Immediately, the murdered doppelganger vanished!

Including all of her blood that painted the area!

It was as if the lookalike's corpse had never existed!

"What...is...going...on??" Katara yelped, in a way freaked-out voice!

Then she deduced who had done the dark deed (Zuko) and, more important, _why._

"Aang!"

ooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, in the storehouse...

A young girl stumbled around in the shadows of the cellar.

She had been on a long journey to find Zuko, all the way from the Northern Water Tribe at the North Pole, because she believed only his intervention could save her people. When she had at last reached the Fire Nation, she was shocked to find a country in crisis! The city burned, and riots ran wild through the Capital! When armed soldiers swept through the streets, she was struck down and trampled by the crowd in all the confusion, but was then miraculously saved by a mysterious stranger. Though she was familiar with healers among her own people, the one who mended her bones did not look anything like a fellow tribeswoman (and what would a Water Tribe female be doing in the Fire Nation anyway, herself excluded?).

But the biggest unanswered question she had was, how did the strange girl heal her? The teen knew she was severely injured and close to death. Yet not even the greatest healers in the history of the Water Tribes could effect such a quick recovery! The girl known only as Minua, who oddly enough had never felt at home in either the North Pole or the South Pole where she was raised, had stared at the area where the soldier's weapon pierced her flesh, but there wasn't even a scar! She didn't understand what had happened, but took it as a sign to continue on her quest.

However, when Minua finally, after much effort, located the house of Fire Lord Zuko, it was sealed shut, and he was nowhere to be found. Then destiny called to the Southern Water Tribe maiden to follow the group that included the girl from the war-torn streets who had laid hands upon her. She couldn't fathom the reason why, but went anyway.

When that journey descended into chaos, Minua sought shelter from the storm, and wound up here.

Now she was alone in the dark.

Or was she?

Minua heard a faint sound, as if something was crackling.

"Hello? Is there someone here?" she called out.

Minua felt a large object in front of her.

"What is this?"she muttered to herself.

The nearby air flickered with gold strands of light, and in their brief illumination Minua saw _someone _trapped in the crystalline structure!

The resident of both Water Tribes pawed the odd object, trying to figure out what it was. A statue? A religious icon? What?

_Is anyone there? _a voice said to the grey-eyed girl.

Minua jumped back! Could there actually be a real person trapped in the crystal??

And, in a bizarre twist, though the Water Tribe lass could hear the voice, it didn't even make a sound!

"Who are you??" Minua fearfully asked.

_Who am I? I'm...My name's Will._

Then the cellar room was filled with a blinding flash of light!

ooooooooooooooo

Stunned to learn he could not bend the 'living' rocks that first danced about him, then launched themselves at his body, striking him many times, Aang was unprepared for Zuko's next move...

...An energy tether that wrapped around the Avatar! Quickly, Zuko grabbed the lasso that held Aang, whipped him 'round and 'round, and finally, with much glee, released him. Aang smashed into the side of a cliff, then fell helplessly to the ground far below!

**WHAMMM!**

**eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee **

**THOOOMMMM**

But this didn't stop the boy who possessed all the power and knowledge of previous Avatars!

Ascending once more into his native element, Aang wrapped rotating lines of water, earth, fire and air around him and confronted his nemesis.

"It doesn't matter what you throw at me Zuko! You can't win!" Avatar State Aang with the glowing eyes and luminescent air bender tattoos confidently boasted.

"Really? Is that what you told your friend on the Day of Black Sun, what was his name, sock itch?" Zuko evilly taunted the boy Avatar.

"His name was SOKKA!!!" the enraged last air bender screamed, his anger sparking a flare-up of both the fire in his soul and outside his body. Furious at being reminded of the loss of his friend (and also of his failure), Aang threw a barrage of earth, water, fire and air at the leering Fire Lord, but 'Zuko' vanished!

"What the??" Aang gasped in surprise. "I couldn't have..."

"Don't worry. You didn't!" the familiar voice said from behind. "Miss me?" Zuko joked. Then he followed up his quip with a roundhouse blow to Aang's head!

Rubbing his tender crown, a confused Aang uttered "How?" Then the Avatar recovered his faculties and stated "Never mind. I'll still beat you!"

"And how will you accomplish that? Face it, Avatar. We're too evenly matched." the hovering Fire Lord pointed out.

Then some of the ever-present clouds parted, and a patch of sky opened up, revealing the comet was on its way!

"Oh, look at that!" Zuko sneered. "Guess we're not that evenly matched, after all!"

Swiftly absorbing the energy of the approaching comet, the multi-powered Zuko began to shine.

Suddenly, numerous duplicates of the Fire Lord populated the comet-lit sky!

Awed at this display of Candracar magic, so unknown on his world, even among the _Spirits_, Aang hesitated. Instinctively, he opened himself up to the power of the Avatar soul he alone possessed, and realized something important about his environment. "You're wrong, Zuko!" Aang declared. "The comet is making me stronger, too!" The Avatar State glow around Aang's eyes and tattoos increased until light suffused his entire body. Aang had never felt so powerful! And it scared him. _This must be what Roku was afraid of! _Aang thought, recalling the previous Avatar warned him to 'beware the fire' before the lad embarked on his mission to the Fire Nation. But people all over the world were counting on Aang to stop the Fire Lord and end the war, so the young Monk ignored his misgivings and engaged the multiple 'Zukos' in battle!

Avatar State Aang bent a wall of hellish fire at the Zuko doppelgangers, and all of the illusions burned away except the real Zuko, who easily parried the attack with his energy shield.

Flaring with new-found might, the two supremely powerful opponents clashed again in the early evening sky outside the Capital, lighting it up for miles around as their combined radiance threatened to outshine the sun!

Several hundred feet below the dueling duo, the ground liquified due to the massive amounts of heat generated by the unprecedented conflict!

"Oh, Aang!" Katara, standing at the window of the Palace tower, cried upon seeing the battle of the multi-benders silhouetted against the full moon. "What's that monster doing to you??"

ooooooooooooooo

Zindao chuckled to himself.

"Assume fire bending positions!"

His long-sought goal to restore the once-great Fire Nation had been difficult. He had to work for that fool of a Fire Lord, Zuko, and patiently wait for the proper time to strike.

"On my mark..."

And these interlopers, these 'Guardians', these false benders, had been the most troublesome, with their weird powers and even weirder ideas! Zindao had tried to assassinate them before, but the assassin failed (Author's Note: See the upcoming _Cornelia's and Taranee's Adventures in the Fire Nation)_. Unfortunately, Zuko had kept a very watchful eye on the two outworlder girls. Plus, they had their elemental powers to protect them.

Now, the intruders were bereft of both, and nothing...

"Fi-"

"Hey, Cornelia! Just thought I'd drop in!" a voice from above rang out.

"Jun!!" Cornelia cheered!

Jun Yi descended from the heavens and immediately began fighting the Fire Army soldiers! With her hands grasped together, she swung with all her might and struck a blow that knocked the helmet off the head of one of her foes!

"Ahhhhh yah!" she battle-yelled!

"What the??" the perplexed Captain Zindao uttered. How could one lone girl even dream of halting his carefully laid plans?

"And I brought some friends!" Jun whooped.

Zindao looked up, and saw an airship full of invaders come down into the open courtyard right on top of his crack, hand-picked troops!

Shrieking blood-curdling battle cries, warriors from the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and a few other places spread all over the field of battle!

The Fire Nation soldiers were taken by surprise!

"No! Not again!!" Zindao railed at the insane workings of fate!

He drew his blade and rushed to support his men!

But then someone landed in front of him, blocking his path...

"Caleb!!" Cornelia shouted in glee!

The Meridian boy turned to his admirer, acknowledging her love with a smile, then returned his attention to the devious Captain!

With a single sword-stroke, he disarmed Zindao!

With another, the flat of his blade sent the traitor sprawling on the ground!

"Oh, Caleb!" Cornelia cooed as she ran to her savior. "I knew you'd come for me! I..."

Caleb wrapped his free arm around his lady love and planted the biggest kiss of his life on her!

"Mph?...Mmmmm" Corny eagerly responded, returning the kiss with all the passion she possessed!

Meanwhile, the brawl between the fire benders and the Allied freedom fighters raged around them!

"Hey! Major battle going on here!" Irma griped, as she struggled with a Fire Army man. He held Irma in a bear hug and laughed as he attempted to break her back! Irma's fists bopped him repeatedly on the head, to no effect! "You guys can get reacquainted later!" she shouted.

Without breaking her long-sought makeout/embrace of her Meridian paramour, Cornelia casually waved her hand, and her telekinesis did the rest: The armor on Irma's attacker shot straight up, conking him in the chin! (And exposing the ilegal combatant's underpants, but that's too embarrassing to disclose, even for the bad guys).

After her assailant fell down, Irma was about to give thanks, when Caleb's flung sword whizzed by her head and cut down another Fire Nation soldier who was about to do in the Water Guardian from behind!

"Whoa!" Irma gasped. "Never mind. Go back to what you were doing!"

"This. Is. Not. Happening!" Zindao screamed as he got to his feet and prepared to re-join the fray.

He walked up behind the two infatuated lovers of freedom (among other things), eyes crackling with electric fury, and then...

"Leave Plant Spirit alone!" a she-hulk with long, curly, blond tresses (plus a flower perched in her golden hair) bellowed!

She grabbed Zindao, picked him up, held him up above her head, then threw him bodily clear across the field!

"What?? How?! This can't be happeningggggg!" the beseiged Captain croaked before he crashed into the battle-scarred soil.

The strange sight of a female sumo wrestler wearing a Shirley Temple wig was enough to make even Cornelia and Caleb break off their major make-out!

"Who is that??" Cornelia yelped.

"That's Ryoko!" street fighter Jun Yi answered as she waltzed past Cornelia while slashing blades with a Fire Army opponent. "When my classmates heard the Plant Spirit and the Fire Angel were in trouble, I couldn't keep 'em away!"

"For the Plant Spirit!" the 'Precious Flowers', schoolgirls of the Fire Lands with flowers in their hair, roared!

"For the Fire Angel!!" the 'Brilliant Flames', Fire Nation coeds with dreadlocks, passionately howled!

"For the world!" the Allied warriors from the Water and Earth nations whooped!

So motivated and driven were the liberty-loving combatants, they soon turned the tide of battle over the intensely trained and talented fire benders of Zindao's rebel regiment!

"Although I am surprised An Sui joined us." Jun Yi commented on the juvenile delinquent of the bunch to Corny as Jun and Caleb exchanged opponents on the battle field.

"Why not? This damn war closed all the clubs, so the sooner it's over, the better!" An Sui snarkily retorted while she blasted white flames from her feet to propel herself over her fire bending foe, grabbed him from behind, then nastily shot fire from her hands under the joint openings of his armor. "Besides, it looked like fun!" she added with a wicked glint in her eye as the soldier ran away, screaming in pain, black smoke issuing from his rear!

"Get away from me, you, you freak!" a harried Fire soldier shrieked in fear as the blonde behemoth advanced on him.

"Ryoko not freak! Ryoko pretty! Have flower!" Ryoko pointed to the poinsettia set in her golden locks.

"You tell 'em, Ryoko! You're a beautiful person!" Cornelia yelled words of encouragement at her ally.

"See?" Ryoko uttered, then body-slammed the soldier to the ground! "Plant Spirit know beauty!"

"Love the hair!" the blonde elemental shouted.

"Boy, Corny, you sure have some weird friends!" Irma Lair wittily observed.

"I sure do!" Cornelia said, smiling knowingly at her long-time bff. "Are you still going to complain about my fanclub now, Irma?"

With most of the turncoat Fire Army defeated, and the Allies ganging up on the few that were still fighting, the curious Cornelia turned to her boyfriend and asked "Not that I'm objecting to the last-minute save, but how did you organize this? And how did you know where we were?"

"After we picked up some of the warriors out at sea in Jun's airship, we stopped at her school on the way back, then followed the path of destruction! That's usually where you Guardians are!" Caleb joked. "Kidding! We saw your flare!"

"What flare? Oh." said Cornelia, remembering the electric fireworks Iroh shot into the sky. "That wasn't a flare. Oh, who cares! C'mere!" she beckoned, drawing Caleb closer to her for another round of kissyface.

Just then...

**ZAPPPTTTT**

Violent lightning arced over the field of battle, felling all of the (supposedly victorious) Allies and freedom fighters!

"Disrespectful brats! You'll pay for this indignity!" Zindao raged, as all of his enemies moaned and writhed in agony. "Forget the firing squad! I'll end your lives myself!" he cruelly promised, his barely contained electricity sparking from his hands!

ooooooooooooooo

Aang and Zuko.

Locked in battle high above the Capital's outskirts as the comet traversed the heavens, getting ever closer to the Earth, the two ultra-powerful benders feeding on their respective power sources (for Aang, the Avatar State and the comet, and for Zuko, the comet and the Heart of Candracar), their very bodies blazing brightly, almost blindingly, as a result.

Zuko soared with wings of fire, while Aang flew with his rotating spheres of air, water, earth and fire bearing him aloft, his Avatar State causing the air bender arrows tattooed on his body to glow.

"I'll stop you, Zuko! I have to! You hurt so many! You killed Katara!!" the young Avatar railed. The determined Air Monk battered the Fire Lord with a cannon shot of water, then buried the teen terror under a mound of earth. Using flame to bake the mud-brick mid-air prison, its fiery intensity fed by hurricane-force gusts, Zuko soon was trapped in an impenetrable prison!

Supposedly, anyway.

Summoning the other-worldly force at his command, Zuko shattered his baked clay enclosure, causing Aang to blow a mighty wind at the oncoming clay missiles lest he be struck down by the impromptu assault. "So? What was the girl to you? Nothing, obviously, or you would have saved her!" Zuko cruelly barked in reply, blocking Aang's re-directed attack of the clay projectiles with a Heart of Candracar-formed energy barrier conjured by his left hand, while his right hand shot bolts of electric fire at the last air bender.

"No!! I lo-" Aang stopped. Zuko was goading the Air Monk, but Aang couldn't let the hot-headed fire bender get to him. Because if Aang lost control, the Avatar State could run wild and devastate all of the Fire Nation!

Aang had held back because he knew what the Avatar State was capable of. But there didn't seem any way to stop Zuko! Aang feared he might have to violate his pacifist Air Nomad beliefs and commit...

In his mind's eye, Aang beheld the long line of previous Avatars. One by one, they turned to him, eyes aglow, as if begging him, pleading with him, to do that which he HAD to do to end Zuko's threat!

At his lowest ebb, Zuko ensnared the Avatar yet again in an energy field, but this one was only around his head. It blocked his mouth and nose! Aang couldn't breathe!

"Now you're separated from your element of air! It won't be long now!" the overlord of, at present, the Fire Nation, and soon the entire world, gloated.

Aang tried to remove the energy wrapped 'round his head, but it was unbreakable and unbendable! He moved his arms and legs and bent mini-tornadoes at it with no effect, crashed waves of water upon its slippery 'shore', cracked slabs of stone upon impact with its hard surface, and hurled balls of flame at it, which dissipated on contact. No matter what he tried, the Candracar-formed bonds would not yield!

"How could you even hope to defeat me? I control the Heart, you fool! That's better than any 'bending'!" Zuko jeered.

Close to despair, his head pulsing with pain due to the lack of oxygen, Zuko's words gave Aang new hope. Because they reminded him of what the Lion-Turtle said:

_In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves._

After sucking in oxygen-rich air through his uncovered eyes (since the eyelids have ducts that connect the eyes to the nose and, from there, passageways to the throat and lungs), Aang breathed out fire so hot his energy shackles melted!

"No. There is another way." the Avatar solemnly intoned.

Dodging his opponent's energy blasts, Aang darted in front of the floating Zuko, placed his right hand on the surprised Fire Lord's forehead and his left hand on Zuko's chest.

Immediately, Aang's head jerked upwards and pale blue light streamed out of his mouth and eyes.

In sympathetic response, pinkish red light poured out of the stunned Fire Lord's eyes and throat.

"What, what are you doing??!" Zuko cried in terror of the unknown.

"Taking your bending away from you." Aang coolly responded. He knew from his encounter with Zuko on the Day of Black Sun that the Fire Lord used his skill at fire bending to access the power of the Heart. So, if his fire bending was taken away, Zuko's threat to the balance of the world would be over.

The blue light covered Aang's head, then traveled down his entire body.

At the same time, Zuko's red radiance progressed over his entire form.

"They took my face, my mother, my uncle, Mai, everything! But not this! You won't cheat me of my destiny!" Zuko angrily railed at his wretched fate.

Then Zuko's blood-red illumination jumped to Aang's legs, and began to advance ceaselessly over the Avatar's body!

As the crimson glow crept ever closer to Aang's head, the worried Avatar recalled the Lion-Turtle's admonition:

_To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable, or you will be corrupted and destroyed._

According to the Guru, Aang had to forgo all attachments, including love, or he'd be unable to join with the energy of the Universe. Aang realized if he didn't renounce his love for the Southern Water Tribe girl, he'd soon be wiped out and the world would be doomed!

"I'm sorry, Katara, but I have to do this." Aang quietly said to himself, as the flame-red glare painted his neck and cheeks. "I love you so mu..."

With that seemingly innocent statement, the red light exploded, without a sound, all around the air bender Avatar.

The seventh, and final, negative chakra was opened.

Chakra 7: Earthly Attachment (Love)

ooooooooooooooo

"No more tricks! This is the end for you!" Zindao barked.

Leader of the insurgent group The Third Way, Captain Zindao (the hated Admiral Zhao's nephew, and two-time champion of the Fire Army's tournament) also knew lightning bending, making him one of the most feared fire benders in the whole of the far-flung Fire Lands!

At the moment, everyone who opposed his plans for the takeover of the Fire Nation and installation of his despotic 'True Way of Fire' lay on the ground, too hurt to stop him!

"I can see I erred by offering all of you an honorable death, when a dishonorable one is all you deserve!" Zindao disgustedly spat. He cold-bloodedly separated the positive and negative energy that flowed around him.

And released the massive amount of energy as lightning right at the injured Guardians and their allies!

But...

"Um, flying girl?" Chan pointed up into the sky.

"I'm not saying anything." Ruon Jian replied.

"Me neither."

The 'flying girl' then flew right in front of the electric blue blast of lightning!

"Heh. Tickles." the girl said as she effortlessly absorbed the hundreds of thousands of deadly volts.

"No. No!! That's impossible!!!" the dumb-founded Zindao cried in disbelief. No one could absorb lightning! Not even the Avatar, in all of his legendary incarnations, could perform that feat!

"My turn." the girl quietly intoned. "Quintessence!" she exclaimed.

At the sound of those words, the debris lying on the ground - bits and pieces of armor and weapons (chainmail breastplates and shinguards, swords, spears, etc.) - came to life, chased Zindao down and wrapped themselves around the rebellious Captain of the Guard, restraining him so tightly he couldn't move!

"Anyone else?" the floating teen offered to the Captain's traitorous followers.

Faced with a power unlike any they had ever known, the rebel soldiers did the only reasonable thing.

They ran!

"**Will!!!**" the four Guardians - Irma, Hay Lin, Taranee and Cornelia - all happily shouted!

"You're back! It worked!!" Taranee cheered.

"Sorry. I was unavoidably detained. It's like I was dreaming, but then something woke me up." Will Vandom sheepishly apologized.

"I've always said Irma had a voice that could wake the dead!" Cornelia wise-cracked.

"Ha ha, Corny!" the 'miffed' Irma Lair retorted. Though, truthfully, she felt so good no one, not even snooty Cornelia Hale, could bring her down.

"Actually, I don't think it was you guys. It felt...different." Will struggled to explain her recovery.

"Who cares how it happened! You're back! Yippee!!" Irma rejoiced.

"And in the nick of time, too!" Cornelia added.

"I never gave up. Just like I knew you four would never give up on me! I'm so proud of you guys!" Will said as she hugged her friends.

"Uhhh..." The four Guardians broke the embrace and looked worriedly at each other.

"What is it?" a concerned Will asked.

"You see..." Tara began, then stopped, unable to enunciate all the challenges and problems the Guardians encountered while their leader was gone, the difficult choices they were forced to make.

"It's been so hard! You don't know what it's been like!" the emotionally battered Hay Lin wailed.

"Never mind that!" Irma snapped. "We have a...situation, Will." she said, thinking of Aang and Katara's predicament with Fire Lord Zuko.

"You're right! I almost forgot!" the Energy Guardian shot back.

"Not so fast!" an angry Captain Zindao bellowed. He had freed himself from the animated pieces of metal and wasted no time in confronting the enemies of all the jingoistic, fascistic Fire Nation slogans he learned in Fire Lord Sozin's biased schools. Immediately, he let loose with bent lightning!

**ZAPPP**

"Give it up! You can't win!" Will confidently declared as she shielded her still weakened friends from the maddened insurgent. "All your men have fled!"

"I don't need them to eliminate you destroyers of the Fire Nation!" the ultra-determined Zindao threatened. He stood before Will, ready to fight, his lightning arcing from hand to hand.

"Whoops! You better look out!" Will said, pointing to the sky behind the leader of The Third Way.

"Ha! That old chestnut!" Zindao leered. "You'll have to do better than..."

**Rrrarrr!**

Came the earth-shaking roar from the beast of the air!

"Appa!!" Hay Lin and Irma yelled in unison as the Avatar's skybison landed on Zindao, knocking him out!

"But how?" Irma queried.

"I asked Aang for his bison whistle when we put Appa in that shelter!" Toph revealed, waving the whistle in her hand. "Hey, seeing as how we're always getting into some impossible situation, someone around here has to think ahead!"

"Toph, I could kiss you!" Irma blurted out.

"Seriously? Yeah, that would really tick Cornelia off, wouldn't it?" Toph smirked.

"What did you just say?!" Cornelia interrogated her fellow earth elemental.

"Nothing." Toph innocently answered, wisely zipping her lip so as not to incur the wrath of Candracar's Guardian of Earth.

ooooooooooooooo

Aang fell from the heavens and crashed into the desolate, volcano-formed basalitic and rhyolitic rock-strewn wastelands known as the Plains of Agni that lay beyond the Capital, right next to the towering mountains/extinct volcanoes that formed a semicircle around the city.

"Aang! No!!" Katara screamed.

The master water bender, immediately upon seeing the one she adored in trouble from her perch high above the city, had rappelled down the walls of the Palace using only the liquid in her waterskin. But she didn't use the water as a rope; the height was too great for that. Instead, after Katara leapt from the open tower window, she pulled the water under her body, using it as a brake to slow her fall. When the force of gravity broke her through the wall of water, she pulled the liquid under her again and again, constantly re-forming the water below her dropping body, thus making a controlled descent to the ground from seven stories up.

Rushing to the aid of her companion, Katara had dodged the ever-present military patrols of the Red Zone by using a watery tentacle wrapped 'round her to hold her up above them, out of sight, in the dark, twilight-shadowed recesses of the city.

Finally reaching the lonely spot where Aang crashed, Katara took one look at Aang's unmoving body and gasped "What did he do to you?? Oh, Aang!!"

Making use of the nearby hot spring as a supply source, the South Pole's only water bender bent the steaming water, cooled it, applied it all over Aang and performed her healing magic.

Except, it wasn't working!

Aang didn't wake up, or even stir!

Removing the vial of Spirit water (the special water from the North Pole Spirit Oasis she received from Master Pakku) that lay around her neck, Katara sprinkled its contents on Aang, then lay her hands upon him. And prayed. "Aang? Oh, please, Spirits! _Please_ let him be okay!"

Miraculously, Aang's eyelids fluttered!

Then, he spoke! (Sort of, anyway).

"Unhhhhh."

"Aang?" Katara nervously voiced her apprehension as she cradled the youthful Air Monk's head in her lap.

Then the boy Avatar's eyes opened and, for the second time in his life, he woke to the image of the girl he loved, except this time it made no sense. Confused, Aang said "Katara?? How? You were..?"

"Oh, Aang! What you saw was one of Zuko's lousy tricks! I'm okay! And you will be, too, thank the Spirits!" she beamed, hugging him for all he was worth!

"Ohhh. So tired. Something...something happened. I feel fuuuu..." Aang weakly croaked, and then passed out.

"Shhh. You rest now." Katara soothingly said as she made Aang as comfortable as she could upon the barren, rocky landscape.

Then, the water bender from the Southern Water Tribe received her first visitor...

...Zuko, who alighted behind the duo of freedom fighters!

"How is he?" the Fire Lord calmly inquired.

"What do you care??" Katara spat at him.

"It had to be done, but I never meant the air bender any harm." Zuko rationalized his actions.

"You had to almost kill him?" Katara scolded. "Get lost, Zuko!! I'm not interested in your crazy excuses! The Avatar needs my help!"

"You don't understand..." Zuko explained, in a voice that sounded far wiser than any he had displayed in the past. "...I'm the Avatar, now."

ooooooooooooooo

"How'd you get free, Will?" the curious Taranee asked as she and the other Guardians tended to the injured on the field of battle and secured the enemy combatants. (Due to their special Candracar-granted gifts, the Guardians recovered much quicker from Zindao's electric assault than the people of the Avatar's world, and even faster than the benders). "You said it wasn't our doing, that it felt 'different'."

"Or a different person. I heard someone's voice, but I don't know who they were, and then it's like I just woke up!" Will Vandom answered.

"Maybe it was the Oracle?" Cornelia suggested.

"Maybe. All I know is, I woke up, and I was lying on Phobos!" Will revealed.

"What?!?" Irma gasped.

"Yeah. He was passed out or sleeping beneath me!" Will added.

"Whoa!!!" Taranee whistled.

"Eeep!" Hay Lin squeaked.

"Ewww!" Cornelia gagged.

"No kidding! But he was out like a light, so I tied him up real easy!" the Guardian of Quintessence elaborated. "We should check on him and make sure he can't escape. Besides, there's something else I have to do down in that cellar."

Will led her Heatherfield friends (plus Toph) down into the dark depths of the storehouse, its confines lit by only a few torches hung on the walls. The four elemental Guardians wondered what was so important that the problems with Zuko and Aang and Katara and the whole war thing could wait, but they trusted their leader implicitly and didn't question her judgment. For her part, Toph Bei Fong was content to merely be along for the ride.

But when the group reached the room where Will was kept prisoner...

"Huh? Where'd he go??" the Energy Guardian looked around the cellar room.

"I thought you said you left Phobos tied up?" Taranee questioned her friend.

"I did!" Will replied. "But then, he does have all sorts of magic powers! I guess he could have used those to get free." she postulated.

"Phobos escaped?!!" Hay Lin cried. "This is a disaster!"

"That isn't the worst part!" an upset Irma Lair ranted. "Look who's still trapped down here!"

She swung her torch over to the far wall and illuminated...

"**Will???**" Cornelia, Hay Lin and Taranee howled.

Will remained a prisoner behind the energy field. So, who was the Will walking around and talking to them??

"B, but that doesn't make any sense!" Taranee exclaimed.

"Unless...This Will over here is an impostor! A trick of Phobos'! Some sort of glamour or spell!" the Water Guardian railed at her supposed 'friend'.

"Irma...It's really me. I saw that other Will, too, and thought it was strange, but there are bigger issues..." Will started to say to her Guardian companion.

"What's my favorite color?" Irma Lair quizzed 'Will'.

"Irma, this is silly!" Will responded.

"Lay off, Irma! This is the real Will! You're just embarrassing yourself!" Cornelia interjected.

"Not until she answers my question!" Irma demanded. "And why would the real Will not be concerned about Aang or Katara, huh?"

"Irma, I am concerned about Aang and Katara, but there are other things going on here." Will attempted to shed some light on the situation. "Others that are in trouble, too!"

"But why would a phony Will lead us down here and expose herself??" the logically-minded Taranee argued. "It makes no sense!"

"Unless that's how she convinces us 'it' is really Will!" the conspiratorial Irma theorized. "Phobos is pretty sneaky like that!"

"Okay, fine!" Will sighed. "Your favorite color is turquoise, you hate sports, you love music, your favorite singer is Karmilla, and you live in mortal fear that one day your power will go out of control while you're sleeping and your parents will think you wet the bed!"

"Snort!" Toph guffawed.

"Geez, you had me at 'turquoise'." Irma moaned. "You didn't have to say that other thing!"

"Irma, none of that matters!" the leader of the Guardians gently lectured her Candracar colleague. "You are right to be worried about our friends, and I am too, but I learned things while I was away!"

"What do you mean, Will?" Taranee inquired.

"It'll be easier to show you! C'mere!" Will directed her friends' attention to the adjoining room which sparkled in the low light.

"We need to dismantle that web hanging from the ceiling. It's a very delicate operation. Toph, to start with, if you could use your metal bending to move the metallic thread closest to the ceiling 15 degrees southeast?" Will requested.

"But I don't have my earth bending anymore! Zuko took it away!" the Bei Fong scion cried.

"That's ridiculous!" Will rejected the notion. "Zuko may be able to affect our powers temporarily but, even with the Heart of Candracar, he can't permanently hijack something that's such a part of you! He just made you think you lost your bending!"

"He copied my power of suggestion?!" Irma bitched. "That slimy snake! I can't believe he punked us like that!"

Toph concentrated, and slowly her 'sight' (her earth bending-based 'sonar') returned.

Cornelia, Hay Lin, Irma and Taranee also discovered they still possessed their elemental powers.

Then the master earth bender followed Will's explicit instructions and, one by one, shifted the metal fibers that twinkled with an unearthly luminescence.

Finally, after Toph relocated the last metallic thread of the web, there was a burst of light!

"Okay. That's interesting." Cornelia observed. "But why couldn't you fly up there and move those threads yourself, Will?" she asked.

"Because of my energy powers!" the Guardian of Quintessence replied. "One touch from me and that'd be all she wrote for those guys!"

"Huh?" said the baffled Irma Lair. "Those guys??"

"Zuko trapped the Spirits in that metallic web thingy!" Will clarified.

"Those are….?" Hay Lin stopped to stare at the multi-colored lights gathered at the ceiling. Then the lights radiated out of the room, up the stairs, out the door and into the sky. "Wow!"

Returning to the storage room that held the other 'Will' behind an energy barrier, the Fire Guardian offered her theory. "You know, I wonder if this might be an astral drop?"

"Well, there's an easy way to test that!" Cornelia chimed in.

"You mean say, what's that word, 'spord lartsa'?" Irma interjected.

And with that, the false captive 'Will' disappeared.

"You know what this means?" Tara analyzed the facts. "Will said she woke up on Phobos. And that crystal thing Phobos was imprisoned in is gone. That must mean that piece of crystal was really Will! Zuko must have used the Heart to transform her!"

"He can do that?" Cornelia shuddered. "So Will was here the whole time??!"

"Hidden in plain sight!" Hay Lin commented. "That's better than my invisibility!"

"Man, Zuko is a real slimeball, but you have to give him props for sneakiness!" Irma offered grudging admiration of the Fire Lord.

"Never mind that!" the leader persona of Will Vandom reasserted itself and cracked the whip. "We have to get outside! Hurry! Something's happening!"

"Huh? What's going on, Will??" a very puzzled Irma Lair asked. "What's the rush?"

"The Spirits told me we have to save the world." Will casually replied, as if it were just another after-school activity. Then she revealed the reason for her lack of enthusiasm. "If we're lucky."

ooooooooooooooo

"You're what now?" Katara said, totally incredulous. She couldn't believe Zuko had the nerve to claim Aang's role! Did he finally go off the deep end? "You're the Avatar?? Zuko, don't you think you've taken this obsession with Aang just a bit too far?!"

"It's true!" Zuko insisted. Then he performed a demonstration. "See that water over there?" he said, pointing to the hot spring. "Watch!"

With a wave of his arm (a water bender form Katara recognized as one she learned from the scroll she stole from the Pirates, back when Zuko hunted Aang), the Fire Lord called a stream of the boiling fluid to rise from the bubbling creek!

After a moment under Zuko's tenuous control, the water fell back into the spring, but he held it long enough to prove his bizarre assertion.

Aghast at what she witnessed, Katara sputtered "Zuko! What did you do??"

"I got the Avatar to unlock his chakras, then allowed him to fully express his power. That is, go into the Avatar State." Zuko flatly stated. "And now…that power is mine! The way it should have been! I was always meant to be the Avatar during this time! Not him!!" he hotly added.

"That's impossible! After Aang, an Air Nomad, the next Avatar will be from the Water Tribes!" Katara, recalling the Avatar cycle, corrected Zuko.

"Exactly! Aang was fated to die 100 years ago, and pass the mantle of Avatar to the next element. But what happened, oh, 85 years ago?" Zuko quizzed the young girl.

"I'm not playing 20 questions with you!" Katara snapped.

"Then I'll answer my own question." Zuko continued. "The Fire Nation attacked both the Southern and Northern Water Tribes!"

"Because..." Katara realized where Zuko was going with this theory of his. "...They were trying to destroy the next Avatar! Before he assumed his title at age 16!"

"Now you begin to see." Zuko grinned in a way that made Katara feel uncomfortable, his madness ever closer to the surface. "And after that...the Avatar would have been an earth bender. Who would be dead of old age by this point, safe behind his walls all these years. And then?"

"Then...the Avatar would be someone from the Fire Nation!" Katara said, following the trail of intellectual bread crumbs left by the teen Fire Lord. Suddenly, she had a horrifying revelation! "Wait...You??? It can't be!"

"But it is!" Zuko smiled at first, then his mood changed. "Or at least, it would have been...Except your friend messed with fate! He defied destiny! But now...Destiny is finally put right!" he exclaimed.

"Zuko, even if that theory was true, it's still impossible for you to be the Avatar!" Katara disputed.

"What? How can you say that?? You saw what I did!" the son of Ozai scowlingly replied.

"You can't be the Avatar because Aang didn't die 100 years ago!" Katara proclaimed in all certainty.

"B, but I met the Fire Sages! They said I had the spirit of the Avatar!" Zuko stammered as he weakly defended his position.

"Then they were wrong!" Katara exclaimed. "The Avatar is reborn in each nation. If you were the Avatar, you would have the memories of past Avatars! But you don't, do you? Because Aang does! He never died!!"

"But then…why did?" Zuko felt lost. What the water bender said sounded right, but how to square that with what he experienced??

"Whoever told you that lied, Zuko! They used you!" Katara boldly declared.

"No. I took precautions. The Spiritcatcher! So he couldn't hurt me or, or interfere!…" Zuko was babbling by now, but what he said intrigued Katara.

"Who, Zuko? Who did this?!?" Katara was finally going to get the name of the architect of all the madness in her life. It may be too late to help Aang but, after the death of her brother, closure was very appealing to her. She so desperately wanted to make sense out of it all!

"Koh, the Face-Stealer!"

ooooooooooooooo

"Save the world? I know Zuko's done some pretty rotten things, but the whole world isn't in danger from this war!" Cornelia Hale commented.

"If the sky clears, you should be able to see it." Will noted.

"See what??" Irma, totally frustrated with the recently returned chief of the Guardians, grumbled. "What are we doing here when we should be rescuing Katara and Aang?!?" she ranted. "Zuko wants to steal Aang's Avatar powers, and God only knows what he's got planned for Katara, not to mention the rest of the world, if the loon actually succeeds!!"

"We can't reverse what Zuko did, but we can stop what he set in motion. That's the real threat!" the red-headed Keeper of Quintessence mentioned.

"Alright, now you're just freaking me out!" Irma Lair lashed out at her fellow Guardian. "What is going on with you, Will?! Ever since you got back, you've been acting weird!"

"I'm sorry, Irma, but I told you." Will responded. "When Zuko sent me - wherever he sent me - there were beings there, and they told me things! They told me the whole world was in trouble!"

"Yeah. Right. Those 'spirits', huh? The lightshow." The Water Guardian twirled her finger in the air, unimpressed with the explanation.

"Don't be so quick to reject Will's words, Irma!" Taranee defended her friend. "I met a Spirit and he told me the end of the world was coming, and Zuko was its messenger!"

"Spirits are pretty powerful. I met one and that's how I turned into that Plant Spirit thing!" Cornelia joined in on the conversation.

"See? That's what I mean! We can't trust 'em!" Irma argued.

"Except there are good Spirits, too! Like Hei Bai!" the Earth Guardian testily rebutted her frequent sparring partner.

"Hold it! Look! Look up in the sky!" Will directed as the clouds parted, and the comet came into view.

The huge, planet-destroying cosmic fireball, on a collision course with Earth!

"Oh, that doesn't look good!" Irma said, in the understatement of the century!

ooooooooooooooo

"No! I'm the Avatar!" Zuko screeched. First, he bent a breeze that cooled Aang's skin. Then the newly empowered leader of the Fire Nation bent the obsidian rocks lying under the injured Air Nomad into a straight line, easing the pressure on his back. "This proves it!!"

"All it proves is that you're a thief!" Katara screamed at the new 'Avatar'! "You may have Aang's abilities, but you'll never be him! And for what?!"

"I told you! It was my destiny!!" The mercurial Zuko grabbed the young girl's upper arms, as if trying to force his belief into her. "They took everything else away from me, but I wouldn't let them take that, too!"

"Let go of me!!" Katara yelled as she struggled against the driven Fire Nation teen. Then she saw something very odd in the sky and stopped fighting him. "What the? Look at that!"

"Nice try!" Zuko retorted. "But you can't fool..."

"You idiot! Look! Look at the comet! It's..." Katara's voice was full of dread.

Then Zuko noticed the area was a lot brighter. Which was strange, since it was nighttime.

He slowly turned around, and what he saw made his hot Fire Nation blood run cold!

ooooooooooooooo

In the light of the false dawn created by the early arrival of Sozin's Comet, all the secrets of the participants in life's rich drama were laid bare.

There would be no escape from the truth.

_Next:_

_What else?_

_The end of the world._

_Not that our guys and gals are going down without a fight!_

_But it's going to take a miracle (or two or three or four!) to get them out of this jam!_

_Then, prepare yourselves!_

_Because even if our heroes do manage to save the world, they still have to...well, you'll see!_

_'Cause just when you think it's over, it isn't!_

_It's action and drama as you've never seen in a fanfic before and the world,_

_as they say, will never be the same!_

Notes / Comments

Okay, I did try to trick you with the 'who's going to die' tease. But Aang really thought Katara was dead. He had to think that, or he wouldn't have done what he did. Zuko's slaying of Katara's astral drop may make the angry young Prince seem heartless, but readers of W.I.T.C.H. know astral drops aren't truly 'alive'. How can you kill something that doesn't really exist? I couldn't make Zuko evil incarnate because of future events. Altermeres, on the other hand, are a different story....

The woman who helps Katara is Ummi, one of Koh's many faces, and the lost wife of Avatar Kuruk. Ummi was of the Southern Water Tribe, the same as Katara.

Lest anyone thinks Katara is mean to Koh or acting out of character because she didn't free him from his cage, please note that Koh doesn't believe stealing a face 'harms' a person since the body continues to live on (well, it lives on in the Spirit World, but that's the only 'life' Koh cares about!) So Katara made the right move.

Aang couldn't bend in the Spirit World because he was a spirit when he journeyed there, while Katara remained in her physical body, and so retained her bending ability. Physical bodies do suffer some restrictions in the Spirit World. For instance, it's harder for mortals to move from place to place, while spirits can zap from one location to another.

The Aang/Zuko fight scene could have gone on longer (and would have if it was in a TV show), but I thought it was long enough for what I was doing. Compared to the original fight in the _Avatar _finale (Aang vs. Ozai), Avatar State Aang vs. Fire Lord Zuko is certainly a much more evenly matched battle, since in the finale Ozai wiped the floor with Aang at first and then, when Aang goes all Avatar State, the Fire Lord doesn't stand a chance against him. Fights are better when both sides have similar power levels (although Aang and Zuko both held back. Neither fought to their full capability, because if they did, much of the Fire Nation would be wiped out of existence).

Zindao, the leader of the insurgent Third Way, is in charge of the investigation to find the ringleaders of the criminal group (he's so dastardly). So the Captain's coup plan is, after Zuko is wiped out either by the Avatar or The Third Way's secret weapon, he charges the annoying Minister of Agriculture, Sen Po, with being the leader of the Third Way (eliminating a rival in the process) and assumes control of the Fire Nation armed forces after his followers 'beg' him to 'save the Nation' from the Earth Kingdom invaders. Then Zindao unleashes not only the secret weapon that felled Zuko (or that felled the Avatar, if Zuko was defeated by the Avatar) but also the dragons and everything else at hand, like the submarines, plus he'd add weapons to the 'peaceful' spotter airships, all to crush the Earth Kingdom forces. After this stunning victory, the people would acclaim Zindao a great hero and call for him to be the new Fire Lord. He would humbly accept and pledge to 'heal the wounds' of the Fire Nation and work to undo all of Zuko's reforms.

Though he's never seen them before, Zindao recognizes Irma and Hay Lin as the other two Guardians because he's read all the intelligence reports on them. As Captain of the Guard, Zindao has access to almost all of the same intelligence as Zuko does. Yes, that's right. Almost all. Zuko still keeps a few secrets from everybody, even his closest, most trusted advisers. More will be revealed in future stories.

Iroh doesn't know much about the Guardians, but he did see snippets of Heatherfield and Meridian when he traveled to the Spirit World years ago and a portal to those lands opened up, so he knows there's more to the Universe than even the Avatar realizes.

The Fire Nation is portrayed as having a command economy (controlled from the top), and choking in regulation and red tape when Zuko took the throne, while in the Earth Kingdom, government and the economy is decentralized. What this means is that, absent a war, in a generation the Earth Kingdom could overtake the Fire Nation economically and otherwise. If the Fire Nation doesn't change its ways, that is. Which is what Zuko and his allies are trying to do. So these Third Way guys could be an even bigger disaster than they appear, if their goal is to 'restore' the old Fire Nation ways and economy. Plus, Zindao has no problem with waging war if he feels it benefits the Fire Nation.

Iroh did the 'absorb and re-direct lightning' trick in _Avatar _episode 201 (The Avatar State). But after getting injured by Azula in "The Chase" when she shot him full of blue fire, he doesn't try it again. At least I don't recall him doing it again. It's possible the injury affected his ability to re-direct lightning.

Minua appeared in Interludes Five and Fifteen of _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar._ (And will be in the upcoming Chapter 42! I didn't want to give anything away, so I held off on it).

An Sui and Ryoko first appeared in the eclipse-tinged teen Fire Nation drama "Day of Black Sunlight".

Jun Yi seems like a Mary Sue (expert fighter, everyone likes her), but she does serve a very non-Mary Sue purpose, to be revealed later. You'll forgive the 'special' treatment of my original characters (Jun Yi, Shen Ming) when you see what I do with them. Let's just say, no one gets out of this unscarred. Heh.

Yes, An Sui is a bargain basement Azula, but I couldn't use the real Azula to fight Zindao, seeing as how she's all broken up. Plus, Azula's always the Princess. We never get to see High School Azula. It's an interesting change.

Karmilla is from the W.I.T.C.H. comics. On the TV show, the popular singing star is Vance Michael Justin, but all of the girls like him, and I needed someone specific to Irma.

Zuko couldn't trap Will in the Heart of Candracar because if Will was inside it, she'd interfere with him, so instead he transformed her.

Will's mind was trapped in another realm, and didn't know who she was. Like when she and the other girls called on the dragons and became one with their element in the last episode of W.I.T.C.H. Except, this time Zuko forced the change, then transmogrified Will's energy form into crystal and used it to imprison Phobos. Only someone with the power of Candracar could free her, but all the Guardians stayed away when they saw Phobos. Zuko (and his benefactor, Koh) didn't know two things: That, as an energy being, Will would be able to communicate with the Spirits (who are, when it comes right down to it, merely beings of energy themselves. Remember, Will has a natural affinity for all things energetic). And that there is another on the Avatar's world with a power similar to Candracar's.

Will could 'talk' to the spirits trapped in the electric spiritweb. They told her what she has to do. The Spirits know a lot, because they can see things most people can't. But they remain in the dark on a number of issues. They don't know about the Lady of the Swamp because she's a dead Spirit (even the Spirits don't know what happens to a Spirit when they 'die'). And they don't know about Minua because only Avatar Roku knows about her, and he's sworn to secrecy, lest his enemies find out.

Before Zuko changed Will to energy, he made an astral drop of her and sealed it behind an energy barrier. So the girls tried to rouse the mindless copy of Will, an impossible task, while the real Will was a few feet away, in an unrecognizable form.

That was a curious comment Toph made about what would tick Cornelia off. Wonder what it means?

Cornelia may act like she doesn't care about Zuko, but notice how she defends him, first to Zindao, and later to her fellow Guardians. There's definitely something there, but the truth is even more twisted than I've let on. (See the forthcoming _Cornelia & Taranee's Adventures in the Fire Nation_ for a hint)

Zuko and Katara have a scene together! Possible Zutaran action? Doubtful, since she hates him even more now! But, never say never. And Zutarans never do. Even in the face of every fact and clue out there! That being said, why does Zuko grab Katara and try to convince her he's a 'good guy' if he doesn't care about her (or her opinion of him, anyway)? Well, someone in Zuko's state of mind (nutty) usually seeks to validate their craziness. They desperately want someone to agree with them. Katara was there, so he latched onto her. Also, it could be that it's more than Zuko's emotional state that's making him act a bit unhinged. After all, when he's talking to Katara, Zuko possesses both the power of the Avatar and the Heart of Candracar, a feat no being in ANY universe had ever accomplished. What effect could all that unimaginable energy have on someone, particularly someone as driven, as tightly wound, as Zuko?

Zuko planned to end the war as the Avatar, after he took 'his' power back from Aang and achieved his destiny. Then he'd be a hero, the person he wants to be, the one he sees hmself as. But fate (that is, Koh's evil scheme) intervened.

Zuko temporarily took Cornelia's powers/plant spirit energy form away from her in Chapter 10, then 'suggested' to her she lost her powers for good. If she believed she still had her powers, she could have quickly regained their use.

Aang activated the negative chakras, opening the way for a transfer of the Avatar powers/spirit, but he didn't relinquish the power of the Avatar. Aang didn't have to, because the Comet super-charged Zuko so that he was able to take the Avatar's power from Aang once he was 'unworthy' of the Avatar's abilities.


	14. Finale Part 3 The End of the World

**Author's Note: The end of the world.**

**What, you need more than that?**

**Sheesh!**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Chapter 13: Finale Part 3 - The End of the World,

Or,

Everybody Wang Chung Tonight

_It's the end of the world as we know it_

_And I feel fine._

- R.E.M.

In a village beyond the outskirts of the Fire Nation's Capital, the coach of the local Fire Academy, in an effort to establish an area of normalcy in the midst of all the pre-Invasion chaos, put his fire bending trainees through their paces.

**Tweeeettt!**

Went his whistle.

"Listen up, newbs!" Coach Kahano barked. "This exercise will help you get over any fear of fire you may still have. All you have to do is catch the fireballs. Don't worry about injuries. At this stage, about 50% wash out, so 50% of you probably won't even get severely burned!"

Coach Kahano bent several fireballs and urged his students to "Get them! Catch the 'balls!"

The anxious pupils, eager to perform well without ending up in the hospital, ran after the balls of fire, some wearing rubber gloves (The wussies!).

Some stumbled, some caught the fireballs without setting their hair on fire, and some screamed like little poodle monkeys!

Then one of the students looked up and asked "Uh, Coach? What about that one?"

Coach Kahano followed the boy's gaze upwards.

But it wasn't one of his fireballs.

It was Sozin's Comet. On a direct course for the Capitol of the Fire Nation.

And it was coming in hard and fast!

ooooooooooooooo

"He's going to crash the comet into the Earth?!? Is Zuko completely nuts??!" Toph exclaimed. "And I thought someone said Sozin's Comet wasn't due to return for another day??"

On the grounds of the Fire Institute, held now by the victorious Guardians and Allied Freedom Fighters of the three nations of Air, Water & Earth, the reunited heroes of Candracar and the Avatar's world discussed the latest crisis.

"Zuko must have been trying to re-direct the comet to come closer to the planet, in an attempt to increase his power." Will Vandom answered. "But to do that would have required a focusing mirror for his abilities. Or something like it, anyway."

"You mean that big telescope in his Observatory?" Taranee wondered.

"Yeah, that Observatory! Zuko was building it on the mountain the last time we were here, during the eclipse!" Hay Lin added.

"That dirty sneak! He had this planned all along!" Irma bitched.

"Hold it! Zindao said he was planning to use some secret weapon in the place Zuko built on the mountain! He must have meant the Observatory! So we have to take care of that, too, or even if we stop the comet from hitting the planet, the whole world will still be in danger!" Cornelia pointed out.

"You're right! You girls will have to stop the comet, and I'll fly to the Observatory!" the leader of the Guardians directed the quartet.

"But how, Will?!?" Hay Lin whined. It seemed an impossible task to the struggling Guardian of Air.

"As the comet gets closer to the Earth, pieces of it will fall on the country and set it on fire. Taranee and Irma, you'll have to put the fires out! Hay Lin, you're the fastest, so you'll have to get the people to safety." Will ordered. "I'll take care of that 'secret weapon' in the Observatory before Zindao's men can use it."

"What about me, Will?" Cornelia inquired.

Will hesitated.

The sacrifice she was about to ask of her teammate was the most difficult thing the Guardian leader had ever done!

ooooooooooooooo

The comet was coming far closer to Earth than Fire Lord Zuko ever imagined!

"That can't be right. Some mistake, or...It was only supposed to get here early, not..." Zuko rambled.

"You did this?!?" the shocked Katara interrogated the Fire Lord.

"No! I used the Heart to draw on the power of the comet, to make the Avatar transition easier! Not, not to do this!!" Zuko cried.

The comet was aimed right at the heart of the Fire Nation!

And what the Gods have decreed, who could forestall?

"I, I'm the Avatar now! Plus, I still have the Heart!" Zuko not so confidently declared. "I'll stop it! You'll see! Everyone will see why I'm the Avatar!"

The fire-winged Zuko took flight over the desolate Plains of Agni beyond the Capital. He flew up, up, up as high as he could, past the atmosphere enveloping the world and into outer space itself, until he became nothing but a red speck in the sky.

"It's my destinyyyyyy!"

A speck that was as inconsequential as a mote of dust before the awesome, terrifying power of a celestial object of the cosmos come at last to visit our humble planet.

There was a moment of intense, blinding light, as if a sun was going nova. Briefly, night became day, and then...

...Nothing.

From out of the heavenly eruption, a dark object fell to Earth.

But no one witnessed its lonely impact with the surface of the planet.

ooooooooooooooo

Hay Lin pointed to a fiery contrail in the sky. "Look! They're shooting a missile or rocket at the comet!" she howled.

"Maybe that's their 'secret weapon'??" Tara Cook speculated.

"A rocket? What do they expect that to do??" Cornelia Hale scoffed. A missile had far too little mass to affect a raging comet! Even if the projectiles possessed nuclear warheads, they would barely nudge the icy, cosmic fireballs off-course!

"They're shooting fireworks at the comet??" a bewildered Irma Lair commented as she shielded her eyes from the fierce glare of the explosion in the sky.

"I don't think that was a rocket…or fireworks." Will Vandom depressingly noted.

"Then what?...Oh."

None wanted to voice what they were all thinking.

That it was the Avatar who had tried to stop the comet.

And failed.

"Will? What's my comet assignment?" Cornelia anxiously asked her friend for the second time.

The mood of the Guardian leader turned somber as she addressed her friend's question. "You have the toughest job of all, Cornelia. You have to protect the Earth from the comet. You're the only one who can." Will admitted with a heavy heart.

"Me? What can I do??" a confused Cornelia quizzed the reluctant chief of the heroes from Heatherfield.

"You..." Will dreaded what she was about to say. When she was trapped as an energy being/'Spirit', Will received whispered snippets of Cornelia's ordeal from the other Spirits. To make her friend relive that horror was almost unthinkable! But, there was no other way. Cornelia would never willingly try such a stunt...Unless one of her best friends asked her to and the fate of humanity was in her hands. Will hated herself for using her friendship against Cornelia in this way! "...You have to become one with the planet and move it out of the comet's path!"

"That's crazy!" Irma hollered.

"No. It could work. But...If I do that…If I spread myself that thin…" Cornelia choked out the words. "...I could lose myself."

"What?!! No! Then don't do it! There has to be something else we can do to stop that thing!" Irma cried.

"Irma..." Will placed a comforting hand on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Will's right, Irma! There isn't any other solution!" Cornelia reluctantly agreed. "But maybe if I had some help. Earth bending help! How about it, Toph?"

"You got it, Leaf Queen!" Toph eagerly shouted. "You name it, I'll do it!"

"The Lady of the Swamp can help you, too, Plant Spirit! When I meditated under her Great Banyan Tree, she told me about your plight. If you call on her, she can guide you through what you have to do!" Huu the enlightened Swamp Tribe water bender advised.

"A swamp lady will help you?? We're supposed to believe a guy who doesn't wear pants can talk to trees?" the skeptical Irma Lair ridiculed the notion. "What's next? Space aliens??"

"I think he has something, Irma. I did feel a presence when I was lost in the world before, but I was too confused to understand what it meant." Cornelia disclosed.

"This plan is still no better than a longshot!" Irma complained, arms folded in annoyed defiance. "So a comet hits? How bad can it be? Asteroids hit earth all the time!" she discounted the threat.

"Besides destroying everything in a thousand miles of the impact site, the comet's flaming debris could set off a worldwide firestorm. Plus earthquakes. Sonic bang shockwave. Tsunamis. Super hurricane. Nuclear winter/mini ice age. Acid rain. Melted polar icecaps flood the land." The Fire Guardian ticked off the list of calamities in horrifying detail. "If we're lucky, it'll just kill everyone in the Fire Nation, and those on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom!"

"Uh, okay, and if we're not lucky??" Irma hesitated to ask.

Taranee hung her head.

"Oh. Oh my God."

"You are not alone." The voice seemed to echo in the air all around them. "We were trapped for so long, unable to act. But now we are free once more, due to your assistance. Free to help you, thanks to the insight of your friend, who loves you all so very much."

A vision of a young woman with long, flowing white hair appeared in the ether above the Fire Nation courtyard where the Guardians and their associates were encamped.

"Is that..." Hay Lin shook a little as she said "...a Spirit??"

Oddly enough, the spirit was accompanied by someone. A young man stood beside her.

"It's, it's Sokka, isn't it?" Toph Bei Fong asked, her voice all aflutter.

"Toph, how do you know that?" Cornelia quizzed her blind friend.

"I can see him! I can see…Oh, Spirits, thank you! And he looks even more handsome than I dreamed!" Toph joyously cried, the tears flowing freely from her normally sightless eyes.

"Sokka! It is you! But how???" Hay Lin inquired of the dead Water Tribe boy.

"You buried me with my boomerang, remember? And boomie always comes back!" The smiling Sokka held up his boomerang. Except it was broken in two. "Errr..."

The Moon Spirit gave him a disapproving look.

"Oh, and I also had some Spirit help!" Sokka added in apology, grinning like an idiot.

"Wait. Who's that standing next to Sokka??" Toph demanded.

"Sokka mentioned her to me. That's Yue, the Spirit of the Moon. Sokka met her when she was mortal and lived at the North Pole." Cornelia explained.

"Soooo...After all that drama with me and him and Suki...some Moon girl gets him?" Toph commented.

"I suppose you could say that." Cornelia replied.

"Wow. Did not see that one coming!" Toph retorted.

"Then again, you don't see a lot of things coming!" Irma cracked wise.

Prompting Toph to do some cracking of her own.

"Ow!" Irma yelled after Toph bent a pebble at Irma's head, knocking her in the noggin.

"When Cornelia moves the Earth, the moon and the ocean tides will move with her." Yue the Lunar Spirit pledged.

"See that, Irma? We have the Earth and Moon on our side, now!" Cornelia said, trying to persuade herself as much as her Water Guardian friend that their save-the-world plan was viable.

"Still not convinced!" Irma adamantly responded. "But, ya know, if worse comes to worse, you can always make a portal to Heatherfield, right, Will?"

"Irma!! We're not abandoning the people of the Avatar's world!" the compassionate leader of the Guardians chastised her teammate.

"Just saying, is all." The dejected Irma turned away from the others, unwilling to face the harsh reality.

"Besides, I don't have the Heart! So I couldn't make a portal even if I wanted to!" Will corrected the morose Miss Lair.

Suddenly, an odd noise came from above.

Will and the other Guardians looked up, hearts full of dread.

_What is it now? _they thought.

ooooooooooooooo

On the deserted Plains of Agni outside the city, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe tenderly wiped Aang's brow.

The Air Nomad had been running a fever, but now it had broke. His breathing had been ragged, but now it was steady. Katara relaxed. Aang would survive.

For all the good that would do.

The water bender glanced up. The comet was getting larger and closer by the moment.

Katara sighed. She had lost her mother, her brother. Her father was miles and miles away.

Katara wistfully gazed at Aang.

_At least, _she thought to herself, _I get to spend my last moments with someone I care about._

This provided much solace to the Water Tribe girl.

Which surprised Katara. She hadn't realized Aang had meant so much to her.

_Although he is one of my closest friends. _Katara reasoned.

Silently, she sat down beside the Air Monk, gently took his youthful hand into hers, and patiently waited for the end.

ooooooooooooooo

Will Vandom reached out with her hand and caught the long-missing Heart of Candracar!

"Ah! Finally!" she said, her face significantly brighter, limned as it was with a hope she hadn't felt in ages!

"But that means…" Taranee hinted out loud what she was thinking.

Namely, that something must have happened to Fire Lord Zuko.

Tara worried that this news might upset her blonde companion from Heatherfield, and damage their only hope for planetary survival.

"It doesn't matter!" Cornelia sternly retorted, demonstrating to one and all she was not bothered in the slightest that Zuko may have met an untimely end. "What matters is that Will got the Heart back!"

"Wow. Maybe we do have a chance!" Hay Lin smiled as Will transformed them into their stronger, more powerful winged forms.

"A chance is all we ever needed! Let's do this!" Irma exulted, happy that all of her Candracar-given might was at her disposal again after a way too long absence.

ooooooooooooooo

On the ships at sea engaged in the fiercest naval battle in the history of the Avatar's world, the Allied warriors of the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom, as well as their opponent, the forces of the Fire Nation, paused their combat when the sky cleared.

All saw the comet.

And all knew what it meant.

As one, they laid down their arms, the thirst for blood and warfare having abandoned them.

"No!!" The Fire Nation ship's captain Hakoda had been fighting blurted out "I, I have a wife and son in the Capital!"

"I know how you feel." Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe sympathetically responded. "My daughter accompanied the Avatar on a mission to the Capitol."

Both men said a silent prayer to the Spirits for their families.

ooooooooooooooo

Anxiously, Irma approached Will, who was watching Cornelia and Toph practice what they were going to do. "So, uh, do you have a Plan B, boss, if Corny decides not to be Mother Earth?" she asked the lead Guardian.

"There is no Plan B". Will coldly stated. "This is it."

Irma thought Will might flinch at the thought of sending her good friend to what could be certain doom, but the redhead didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow.

_Perfect leader material. _Irma caustically remarked to herself.

In a calm, collected manner, Cornelia Hale laid out her save-the-world plan to the Bei Fong's only daughter.

Who responded in typical Toph fashion.

"Are you serious???"

"Um-hmm." Cornelia said in all sincerity. "When I was lost in the planet, I remember I could feel other earth benders, but I didn't invade their thoughts because it kind of freaked me out!"

"So you really think this plan, to link all the earth benders together to help you move the planet, could work??" Toph questioned with a fair amount of disbelief.

"Yes, I do. Toph, you said you're the greatest earth bender ever. If you pull this off, you really will be!" Cornelia beamed.

"Wow, an actual compliment from Cornelia! Sort of, anyway!" Toph sarcastically remarked. "And all it took was the end of the world!" Then the Earth Kingdom girl's mood brightened and, with a big smile on her face, added "But I'll take it! And hey, I don't know about the 'greatest', but you have the biggest you-know-whats!...What the heck, let's do it!"

"That's the Toph I know!! I...Oh." Cornelia clutched her head. Her legs buckled, and she almost fell over.

As soon as he saw his lady love in distress, Caleb ran to her side.

"Cornelia? Are you okay?" he inquired.

"I don't feel so good." the Guardian of Earthly Things muttered.

"We have a little time. Why don't you lie down for a bit? I saw a cot in the storeroom." Will helpfully offered.

Then she and Caleb walked the stricken Cornelia down into the cellar of the storehouse, leaving behind a very queasy Irma Lair. "Must be nerves." she mumbled to herself. "Yeah. That's all it is!" Irma said as she absentmindedly kicked a rock with her boot.

ooooooooooooooo

All over the Capital of the Fire Nation, people looked up and saw their doom approaching.

Those who were fighting or rioting, stopped.

Those who were alone, thought of loved ones.

Those who were already with family or loved ones, huddling in the dark to escape the chaos in the streets, drew closer together than they ever had before.

All were silent.

ooooooooooooooo

"Caleb, I...I'm scared. I don't know if I can do this. What if I lose myself again? For good, this time?!"

Cornelia had recovered from her malady and returned to the field to begin the most important mission of her life, but suffered second thoughts.

The sparkling-eyed Meridian boy gently grasped his love's palms, looked her in the eye and said "You won't! Cornelia, you're the strongest person I've ever known! Time and time again, you've shown me there's nothing you can't do!"

"You don't understand!" the simple Heatherfield schoolgirl whined. "I had problems before, when I would wander in small parts of the planet! And now I'm supposed to combine with the whole world?? It's such a big place! I could, I could go into it and never get back out!"

"But this time I'm here for you, Cornelia!" Caleb promised.

"Yeah! We all are!" Will added, flanked by the other girls in a show of support.

"Plus, you kind of have to, or we're all dead!" Irma darkly quipped.

"Irma!!" Will, Taranee and Hay Lin yelled.

"But you won't be alone. Remember, call on the Lady of the Swamp, and she'll help you!" Huu wisely noted.

"Okay. But satisfy my curiosity. Who is this Lady of the Swamp?" Cornelia asked.

"I think she was once like you - a plant spirit. But all that's left of her now is the Swamp." Huu answered.

"Geez, I hope we don't have to start calling Cornelia the Lady of the Forest after this whole thing is done!" Toph cracked.

"Toph! You're not helping!" Will scolded.

"Sorry!"

Cornelia looked down, slowly exhaled, gathered herself, picked her head up and declared "Okay. I'll do it!"

Caleb peered at the girl he loved, paused for a heart-skipping moment, then simply said "I love you."

They embraced, and kissed for what could be the last time in their young lives.

A kiss that brought tears to the eyes, and lumps in the throats, of all witnessing it.

Finally, Cornelia was ready to begin.

Grasping Caleb with her right hand, and Toph with her left, Cornelia the Plant Spirit concentrated, then...

...Her clothes dropped to the ground. Cornelia was gone, into the Earth.

Prompting Irma to remark "What's with this losing clothes thing?"

"She doesn't need them anymore. All of the Earth is her wardrobe now." Caleb honestly replied, not realizing how silly he sounded.

"O-kayyy. But I wonder why this happened to her?" Taranee ruminated.

"Yeah! Why Corny, and not any of the rest of us?" Irma Lair questioned.

"Who knows?" Caleb shrugged. "Maybe, if you'd let it, this world could change you, too!"

"Yeah, I don't think so! But if it did, I think I'd keep my clothes on!" Irma joked, in a weak attempt to forget what was at stake: The life of her friend, or the end of the world!

"Cornelia's amazing! She's so much more than she was before. The Oracle said something like this could happen." Caleb commented.

"What, that we'd develop the ability to lose our clothes?" Irma kidded.

"No. The Oracle said he sent you here because this world has the ability to bring out your potential." Caleb explained.

"So, I could have gained some weird new power, kind of like Corny's new power to turn into plants and rocks?" the Water Guardian wondered, totally oblivious to the strange new healing abilities she had manifested during the invasion and earlier, in the Earth Kingdom.

"Yes. Although it wouldn't have to be the same type of change. Just whatever your potential is." Caleb elaborated.

"Geez, I hope that potential includes keeping my pants on!" Mr. Lair's daughter laughed.

"Wait...You said the Oracle _sent _us here??" Taranee of the razor-sharp mind pointedly asked.

Then a tremor shook the ground, and Taranee's question was forgotten.

"Wow. The earth moves, and it's not a lame setup for pillowtalk!" Toph joked.

Cornelia had begun her desperate mission to move the Earth, causing the others to talk about her in what could be their last moments of life.

"You know, at one time it bothered me that she was almost like two different people, what with her Heart of Candracar transformation and her Earth girl form. I wondered which Cornelia I truly loved. But none of that worries me anymore." Caleb vocalized his feelings for maybe the first time ever. "Even with all the changes she's gone through, all the earth-shaking things she can do, Cornelia's never been so vulnerable. So human. So beautiful."

"Wow. That's got to be, like, the most wonderful thing I've ever heard a guy say!…Ummm…" Irma stared uncomfortably at the Meridian boy, glanced away momentarily, then looked him in the eye and asked "Are you sure you don't have a brother?"

Suddenly, Toph was gripped by an outside force. Cornelia was contacting earth benders the world over to tell them how to save the planet.

Toph had felt a sense of oneness, of being connected to the Earth through her bending, many times before. But not like this. She knew she would never be alone again.

The benders all got into an earth bending stance, placed their foot upon the Earth and moved as one being.

ooooooooooooooo

_Katara..._

The familiar voice shocked the Southern Tribe lass. She sprung up and uttered "Sokka?? Am I dead?"

_No. You have a long life ahead of you._

"But the comet…"

_Yeah. That was a tricky one. But I figured it out. You trust me, don't you?_

"Of course, but…" Katara responded as she surveyed the land all around her. "Why can't I see you? Where are you?"

_Where I've always been. Where I always will be. Whenever you need me._

_The world still needs you, Katara._

_Aang__ still needs you._

"Need me? For what? What can I do??"

_There's one last mission you have to do, sis. Then you can relax._

"Huh? What do you mean?"

_And hey. Tell Dad I said hi._

"I...Oh!!"

Katara stopped. Her eyes went white and her body glowed as her entire being was suffused with spiritual strength and a bond to the liquid element the likes of which she had never known before.

All over the world, on this very special night of the full moon, water benders were visited by the spirits of those they had loved and lost.

It became known as the Night of a Hundred Spirits.

No matter where they were - North Pole, South Pole, Earth Kingdom, out to sea or the Fire Nation - Katara and the other water benders answered Yue's call and moved the oceans, seas, rivers and lakes at the same time as Cornelia and the earth benders moved the planet.

ooooooooooooooo

Cornelia Hale had done the impossible!

Through her special connection to the earth, the Plant Spirit had managed to link all of the earth benders in the world to help her move the planet out of the path of Sozin's Comet!

The easy portion of the save-the-world plan was over.

Now, the hard part began.

The incredible gravitic stresses caused by moving the Avatar's world threatened to rend the world asunder!

It started with earthquakes, as if the very planet was tearing itself apart!

And it was.

Fortunately, the world didn't suffer the coastal destruction of monster tidal waves due to the intervention of Yue the Moon Spirit and the water benders.

There would have been numerous volcanic eruptions, also, but the Fire Guardian's earlier actions sparking the Fire Nation's ample supply of volcanoes to blow their tops had luckily spent the world's pent-up fury, sparing it the uncontrollable, nigh-unimaginable damage from scores of magma fissures that would have poisoned the atmosphere for millions of years.

Cornelia, her consciousness spread all over the land, from the ice-covered tundra of the North and South Poles to the crop fields and marshy swamps of the Earth Kingdom to the rain forests and steaming jungles of the Fire Nation, struggled to stop the continental plates from grinding against each other, tamp down the earthquakes and keep the planet together.

An unusual sound emitted from the ground that no one had ever heard before. If asked to describe it, all anyone could say was "It sounded like the planet was screaming."

And it was.

ooooooooooooooo

Spurred by the ferocity of the earthquakes, Will led Irma, Taranee and Hay Lin on a flight over the Capital City to see what they could do to help.

And maybe, just maybe, take their minds off their missing teammate, Cornelia.

They saved people about to fall into gaping fissures in the street, victims trapped in collapsed buildings, and even some pets stranded in crumbling, abandoned homes.

The quakes eventually subsided. With the blazes ignited by pieces that fell from the comet on its close call with the Earth not as bad as feared, and the emergency personnel of the Fire Nation on the job, the girls wrapped up their rescue work and returned to the courtyard to await the return of their friend.

And waited.

And waited.

It was as if time stood still. Would Cornelia come back, or not?

Will tried contacting the Spirits to ask about Cornelia's fate.

But not even those fantastic beings had any words of encouragement for the Guardian leader.

The Earth was saved; But at what cost?

Unable to stare at the pile of discarded clothes lying on the ground any longer, Taranee calmly said "Looks like that fire on the Plaza just flared up. The fire-fighters may need some help." Her brave face betraying not a hint of how she truly felt, the Guardian of Fire took to the air.

"I'll go with." Hay Lin dispassionately added, flying into the dark sky.

"Well, I better see if Taranee and Hay Lin need any help fighting fires…" Irma emotionlessly joined in, flapping her wings to propel her flight.

"And I better go check that Observatory." Will flatly stated to no one in particular, remembering the other thing she had to do, then ascending into the atmosphere.

It being nighttime, when fire bending was weakest, and with most of the fire benders on duty in the Army and not in the Capital, the people appreciated the winged Guardians' assistance. Taranee commanded the burning fires to cease, Hay Lin denied the hungry flames the sustenance they needed - oxygen, and Irma doused the fires with walls of water that seemingly came from nowhere. Though the Guardians happily worked wonders, and returned the people's gratitude with smiles and kind words, it was all a facade.

After all the fires were put out, Taranee, Irma and Hay Lin returned to the site of the wake-like Fire Institute.

Tired and weary, not from fighting the fires that raged in the Capital but at the thought that after all they went through, it ended with the loss of their friend, the girls wiped the soot from their faces and wept.

Without warning, the earth beneath their feet trembled and shook!

The ground heaved forth, disgorging tons of dirt and rock topped with a field of daffodils, lilies and cherry blossoms. At its summit, a figure slowly arose and shook off the sea of flowers.

A human figure, choking and gasping for air.

Cornelia!

Sans clothes.

Swiftly, earth-sensitive Toph bent a stony shroud 'dress' to protect Cornelia's modesty, then Taranee, Irma and Hay Lin flew to the top of the mini-mountain to help bring her down.

The wobbly Cornelia, struggling to stand on the shifting soil, immediately found herself lifted up into the air by her three winged friends.

After they set her down on solid ground, the four embraced in an emotional reunion, with group hugs galore!

"You did it, Corny! Ya-hoo!!" Irma squealed.

"I did? Everything's kind of fuzzy." the disoriented Earth Guardian/Plant Spirit responded.

"Way to go, Cornelia!" Hay Lin cheered. "You saved the whole world!"

"I knew you could do it, Leaf Queen!" Toph praised. "Okay, maybe not at first..." she qualified her statement.

"Wow! The Knowledge Spirit was wrong! The world didn't end!" Taranee applauded her friend's accomplishment.

"Hey, just goes to show, Mister Know-It-All doesn't know everything!" the Water Guardian jeered.

"You're an amazing woman, Cornelia." the boy with the mellifluous voice spoke.

His twinkling eyes met those of the girl he loved.

"Caleb...I..." Cornelia was momentarily lost in those dreamy orbs. Then she realized something rather mortifying. "What am I wearing??" She looked down and saw the drab, ragged, black and grey collection of dirt and pebbles that covered her body.

"Ah, you lost a little something on the trip, so..." Irma tried to explain.

"So I made you an earth dress! Like it?" Toph asked.

"Ummm...It's nice, but...Not really my style." Cornelia politely commented.

The blonde Guardian blinked and, in seconds, an iridescent green gown draped her form, woven entirely out of plant fibers. It was sleeveless, belted, and layered with jagged, triangular panels to create the appearance of tree leaves.

"There! I adapted it from the Milan Collection! A little last year, but still very nice!" The always fashionable Miss Hale displayed, twirling 'round to give everyone a good look. "What do you think?"

"Alright, the save the world thing was you doing your job, but this? This is just showing off!" Irma mock-complained.

"Where's Will? She's gotta see Cornelia!" the excited Air Guardian piped up.

"Remember? She went to investigate that 'secret weapon' of Zindao's at the Observatory." Taranee reminded her colleague.

"Oh. Right. Then...Huh??"

Out of the corner of her eye, Hay Lin spied something in the air coming at them.

When it got closer, the girls could see it was...

"**Will!!!**"

They barely got out of the way before the Energy Guardian screamed out of the skies and made an 'unscheduled landing' in the dirt, plowing a furrow fifteen feet long!

**KA-**_**ROOMPHHHhhh**_

Rushing to their leader's aid, the heroes of Candracar heard Will gasp two words before she passed out: "Too…powerful. Can't...Unhhh."

It was Irma who discovered the source of Will Vandom's distress.

"There's some flying fire guy up there!!" she said, pointing her finger and squinting her eyes. "Is that Zuko??? The creep! I'll show him!!" And then zipped into the air to confront him.

"Irma! Wait!!" the Fire Guardian fruitlessly yelled after the reckless Miss Lair, whose passions flowed like the liquid she controlled. "Ohhhh! Come on, Hay Lin!" Taranee directed her fellow winged teammate to join her in assisting Irma before the Water Guardian bit off more than she could chew.

Cornelia, who had been left behind because she had lost her wings when she transited through the heart of the world, raced after her embattled friends, hoping to help in any way she could, even if she was earthbound.

However...

"Where are you going?" Caleb snapped, stopping Cornelia in her tracks. "You're in no condition to..."

"I have to protect my friends! Look at Will! If Zuko or whoever that is could do that..." the Earth Guardian argued.

"Someone might be able to challenge one Guardian, but I haven't seen or heard of anything on this world that could stand against three fully-powered Guardians of Candracar!" Caleb countered. "This isn't Meridian, Cornelia! There aren't any monsters here! Let Taranee, Irma and Hay Lin handle it."

"But..." Cornelia's heart sank. She may not have been in peak form after her ordeal, yet she longed to stand with the ones who meant so much to her.

Watching helplessly from below, Corny saw the three Guardians' aerial assault on the lone, fiery nemesis.

It wasn't going well.

Reunited with their old teammates and powers, the Guardians of Fire, Air and Water unconsciously went back to their old, comfortable ways of fighting.

Irma's giant waterwall disintegrated into steam on contact with the massive, otherworldly heat that surrounded her furious foe.

Taranee's control over fire dissipated the flying fire bender's shield of flame that hid his identity, but as soon as that was achieved, the airborne opponent created a new protective aura of fire.

The fire shield blocked the Air Guardian's blasts of air. Then the floating bender flared his hungry flames at the one he assumed was an air bender, prompting Hay Lin to furiously dodge out of the way!

The Fire Guardian considered other plans of attack, and was about to implement them, but...

"Hay Lin! Watch out!!" Taranee cried.

Even worse, the trio of Guardians were unused to working together as a team after such a long time apart. Taranee and Hay Lin collided in mid-air, distracting Irma, who took her eye off their violent enemy for just a moment.

Which was all he needed.

The burning fire bender let loose with a long whip of scorching heat that knocked Irma, Hay Lin and Taranee out of the sky!

Unconscious, they fell to the Earth.

"No!!" Cornelia declared, as she prepared to use her vast reserves of Plant Spirit power.

"What's going on??" Toph cried. Unable to see the threat up above, she counted on Cornelia to assist her.

"No time, Toph!" the very human Spirit of the planet barked. "I call upon the power of the Earth..."

At her command, pillars of rock and soil rose from the ground. Some caught the plummeting Guardians of Fire, Water and Air on a comfortable cushion of earth, while others, much harder and far less soothing, rocketed upwards to strike at the floating man afire!

Too late.

Quickly noting where the Guardians alighted from, the ultra-powerful master of the fire arts recognized the threat of the Allies standing below him, easily evaded Cornelia's clumsy attack, and speedily released a burning blast of hellfire!

_**HHHWHOOOOSHHHH**_

"Ahhh!!!" screamed the Guardian of Earth as she, and the other freedom fighters, fell before the might of the unusually powerful fire bender.

"Is that it?" the furious fire master, held aloft by constant bursts of flame beneath his feet, jeered. "I was expecting more of an opposition after all I heard of these 'Guardians'! The Earth Kingdom will fall easily now!"

"Sorry, dad. I'll try to be a better opponent than they were!" a young man declared after hopping over the wall of the Fire Institute's courtyard.

"You? What can you do???" the older man laughed.

"I'm the Avatar now!" Zuko announced. "And I'm here to stop you for good!"

"You? The Avatar??! Oh, I'm going to enjoy this!!" Ozai gloated, his hands sizzling with raw, hungry electricity.

_Next:_

_Because you demanded it, Yaksheep Guy returns!_

_I mean, The battle you demanded!_

_Zuko vs. Ozai!_

_(Yaksheep Guy returns later on. So you'll have to be patient.)_

_Unfortunately, although Zuko is the Avatar, he's not trained in his awesome Avatar abilities,_

_and master bender Ozai has super pumped-up comet power going for him!_

_Basically, it's no contest. Ozai is gonna wipe the floor with 'ol Zukes! Yipe!_

_(But at least they'll share some quality father/son time before the inevitable butt-whooping!)_

_You have to see how it's all gonna end, 'cause it doesn't end like anyone expects!_

_If you think Ozai popping up was a wild plot twist,_

_wait till you see what happens next!_

_You'll either love it or hate it!_

Notes / Comments

I didn't plan for Ozai to come back, but he wouldn't stay away. He forced himself back into the story.

Comets are made of frozen water, frozen gases and rock (water, air, earth) as well as burning fire (all four elements). So they can also affect/increase/unlock an Avatar's powers. Zuko's drive and ambition did the rest (took the power).

It took Zuko months of work with the Heart to draw the comet in. So he can't easily divert it.

Our heroes can't blast the comet apart. It's so big, even the pieces will devastate the world. (And destroy a bigger chunk of the world, too).

The list of disasters associated with comet impact comes from the Discovery Channel. Impact with the comet won't physically destroy the world. But it will throw it out of whack (unbalance the elements/affect the weather) and that will lead to an extinction event. It's happened before. 65 Million years ago a meteor six miles across killed the dinosaurs. And half the people in the world died after a comet three miles wide collided with the planet in 2800 B.C.E. And according to another documentary I saw, volcanic gases poisoned the atmosphere 250 million years ago, causing the greatest mass extinction of plant and animal life ever.

When Chief Hakoda buried Sokka at sea in the epic, senses-shattering _Day of Black Son _chapter (Chapter 5), he broke Sokka's boomerang to set his son's spirit free.

Toph can only see the Spirits (Sokka and Yue). They didn't fix her sight.

I hear the _Avatar_ music swelling when Corny becomes one with the Earth.

Irma demonstrated a tremendous healing ability (but didn't realize it) in Chapter 8, and in _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_.

Caleb broke up with Cornelia in Issue 23 of the comic because he fell in love with Earth Guardian Cornelia, who he calls 'somebody who doesn't exist'. He felt there were too many differences between them to have a relationship. So I finally got that part of canon into the TV W.I.T.C.H. storyline.

Spirits only have enough spiritual energy to show themselves to people once a solstice, which is why Katara couldn't see Sokka.

When Cornelia emerges from the ground, she's surrounded by daffodils, lilies and cherry blossoms. Daffodils symbolize the land of the dead (where Cornelia was, in a way, for the short time she was underground), cherry blossoms (a spring perennial) represent rebirth, and lilies mean The End of the World, the title of the chapter (lilies covered the fresh water sea at the edge of the world in C.S. Lewis' _The Chronicles of_ _Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_ - soon to be a major motion picture. If 2010 counts as 'soon').

Milan Collection? W.I.T.C.H. was created in Italy, so it seemed appropriate.

***Spoiler Alert*** - In the series finale of _Avatar, _Aang defeats Fire Lord Ozai by taking his fire bending away from him. A similar event occurs in my story when Zuko takes Aang's Avatar powers away from him. Plus, fire bending is forcibly removed from Azula and other dangerous fire benders, although these actions are criticized as being 'unnatural'. I did write this tale of Zuko becoming the Avatar to 'correct' mistakes I thought the _Avatar _creators made (Zuko's destiny is to _help _the Avatar? Boring!! It should have come down to a big fight between the two! I mean, after all that build-up, and being opposed for so long? Come on!), but it should be noted I wrote the end of my story long before I read the _Avatar_ finale. I'm not stealing any of their ideas. That both Zuko and Aang use the same means to defeat their opponents proves that great minds think alike (although we differ on the ethics employed by our heroes). Another interesting thing about the _Avatar _finale is that Aang becomes an energy bender (sort of like Will, the Guardian of Quintessence). It shows the two series follow similar tracks, so combining the two is a natural progression of their respective storylines.

Comet-powered fire benders can fly. It's how the Fire Army was able to reach the Air Nomads' mountaintop temples and slaughter them all.

Zindao and The Third Way's secret weapon was the stored energy of the comet, which Ozai stole.

A more accurate title for the story would be...What if Koh allied himself with Prince Zuko instead of Prince Phobos?

Koh, aided by Zuko (who used the Heart's ability to enter dreams), appeared to Aang as 'Avatar Roku' while the real Roku was held prisoner in Zuko's spiritweb (similar to what Zuko used to catch Aang in Chapter 5). Roku escaped for a short time when Zuko betrayed Koh and briefly opened up the spiritweb to trap him.

Koh would have allied himself with a non-loser like Azula, but she scares him. Although, with the way Azula wound up, Hay Lin probably scares him more now.

Koh offered deals to both Zuko and Wan Shi Tong concerning Cornelia. Koh agreed to help Zuko learn about the Heart and his destiny if Zuko would protect Cornelia, at least until she became the Plant Spirit. That's why Zuko couldn't let anything happen to her early on. Once Corny escaped the garden and became the fully realized Spirit of Growing Things, Zuko's debt to Koh was paid, and he did not have to protect her any longer. Thus, the Fire Lord was free to take any action against the Earth Guardian, including burn her to death. Koh told Wan Shi Tong that, after the world was destroyed, they can use Cornelia the Plant Spirit to re-make the world in a fashion that would suit them, and Wan can then have his dead 'Plant Spirit' back. Wan Shi Tong did not know if Koh was going to cause the end of the world, or merely prophesied it. Regardless, it's unknown if Wan took Koh up on his offer. The Knowledge Spirit desired the return of his deceased love, Kameshe, whose essence still permeates the Swamp. He wasn't interested in a 'substitute Spirit' like Cornelia. Cornelia would probably have to die for Kameshe to be resurrected.

The Day of Black Sun, the total solar eclipse, occurred on August 9. A solar eclipse can only happen when it's New Moon. A month and a half later, on Sept. 22, is the time of Full Moon. How about that? The _Avatar_ creators crafted a mythology that, although they didn't use it, works perfectly for my story!

Sozin's Comet is supposed to appear at the end of summer (Sept. 23) but shows up a day early due to Zuko using the Heart of Candracar to meddle with its flight.

There are 3 nights of the full moon (night before, night of and night after). That's why there could be a full moon in both "The Southern Raiders" and "The Ember Island Players". Or, as in this story, the night before and late the next day.


	15. Finale Part 4 Once More, With Feeling

**Author's Note: This chapter wraps up the main storyline with a twist on the **_**Avatar**_** finale.**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Previously, on Avatar...

(underlines mine)

Roku: _One hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used that comet to begin the war. He and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations._

Aang: _So the comet made them stronger?_

Roku: _Yes. Stronger than you could even imagine._

Aang: _But that happened a hundred years ago. What does the comet have to do with the war now?_

Roku: _Listen carefully__. Sozin's comet will return by the end of the summer. And __Fire Lord Ozai will use its power to finish the war once and for all.__ If he succeeds, even __the Avatar__ won't be able to restore balance to the world. __Aang, you must defeat the Fire Lord__ before the comet arrives._

Aang: _But I haven't even started learning waterbending, not to mention earth and fire._

Roku: _Mastering the elements takes years of discipline and practice. But if the world is to survive, you must do it by summer's end._

- Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice, Part 2)

Chapter 14: Finale Part 4 - Once More, With Feeling,

Or,

Are We Human, Or Are We Dancer

Kidding! That's not the musical subtitle!

It's

Everybody Wants To Rule the World

_This isn't a comic book, it's a fairy tale!_

- Cornelia, "U is for Undivided"

_What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon._

- G.K. Chesterton, "Tremendous Trifles"

Moments before Ozai struck down the Guardians and their allies...

The smoking crater in the rocky wastelands beyond Capital City, near the base of the mountains that ringed the Fire Nation metropolis, glowed briefly, before finally succumbing to the all-encompassing night once more.

Sometime later, the soothing darkness was disturbed.

_Get up!_

The voice stabbed like needles in his brain.

_Uncle? _Zuko thought.

Then the Fire Lord opened his eyes.

And saw an explosion rock the Observatory he built on the mountaintop. The Observatory he used to draw the comet to Earth a day early.

"That can't be good." Zuko muttered.

Suddenly, an object he guessed to be a human body rocketed out of the hole in the wall of the Observatory, followed swiftly by a fiery form who sent wave after wave of deadly golden fire at the flying figure!

The soaring person battled bravely, returning fire with what appeared to be lightning, but Zuko could tell its flaming opponent was winning, and drove the flyer further back with each blast of hellfire.

"I better do something about this." Zuko said to himself. "I am the Avatar, after all."

Though unsure why the comet was gone, but not questioning it, either, as he had a new mystery to concern himself with, Zuko blithely activated the Heart of Candracar.

But didn't move.

"What?? The Heart, it's gone!!" Zuko exclaimed. He shrugged it off, set his feet firmly on the ground, and declared "I'm still the Avatar. That means I'm an air bender! How hard can it be?"

Zuko calmly collected himself, focused his chi, released gusts of air below his feet, lifted up into the ether...

...And promptly crashed, facefirst, in the dirt!

"Ow!!" Zuko yelped. "Why...Oh. He uses that staff glider thing to fly!" he surmised. The Avatar thought for a moment, "What can I?", snapped his fingers "Of course!", held his hands behind his back, and let loose with all the air bending he could manage.

"Whooaaah!" Zuko screamed as he propelled himself across the barren Plains of Agni, running as fast as he could toward the fight of the flying benders who, at the moment, were approaching the Capital of the Fire Nation.

Now...

Ozai hovered over the courtyard of the Fire Institute.

Former Fire Lord Ozai, empowered with the vast might of the just-passed Sozin's Comet due to his appropriation of an 'energy collector' Fire Lord Zuko had built in the new Observatory.

Ozai, the most powerful being in the world, who had just beat the fully charged Guardians of Candracar and their freedom-fighting allies from the various nations.

There was only one man standing between him and domination of the whole world...

His scarred son, Zuko!

Who had gone through some changes himself.

"I'm the Avatar now!" Zuko announced. "And I'm here to stop you for good!"

"You? The Avatar??! Oh, I'm going to enjoy this!!" Ozai gloated, his hands sizzling with raw, hungry electricity.

"You're a disgrace!" Zuko snapped at his father. "You couldn't beat a non-bending little girl! Why did you come back? Do you seek more shame??"

"I am no more a disgrace than you, my son, with your gaudy trinket!" Ozai bellowed. "I had to come back after the mess you made of things, and your mewling attempts to seek answers!"

That last comment puzzled Zuko, so he responded to the first thing his father said. "Do you see any gaudy trinket on me??!"

"Then you're a bigger fool than I thought!" the former Fire Lord jeered. "Enough of this! Your reign of embarrassment is over!"

Immediately, Ozai bent a horrific blast of flame, hotter than the sun itself, at his son, but Zuko, expert fire bender that he is, blocked it with a rotating fire wheel of his own making and sent the flames back at his father.

Zuko ran and jumped around, shooting a series of fire bursts as he went, but all these attacks broke ineffectively on Ozai's comet-powered fire shield.

_What am I doing?? _Zuko thought. _I'm the Avatar, so I have skills he has no defense against!_

Quickly, the Avatar ruler of the Fire Nation summoned a great wind to send against his former Fire Lord of a father, but instead...

...the air cyclone blew Zuko backward into a courtyard wall!

**Unfff!**

"Ha! It appears I won't be the one to defeat you! You are doing that marvelously all by yourself!" Ozai laughed.

"Huh. I always thought air bending was kind of weak." Zuko commented. "Not like..."

As before, Avatar Zuko bent the puddles of water in the area (the water left over from the Water Guardian's recent assault on Ozai). As before, the liquid formed a line in front of him.

"...Water bending?"

And as before, the water could not hold together, and fell back onto the ground.

"Or earth bending??" The little rocks on the ground danced when Avatar Zuko bent them. But that's all he could make them do. "Oh, come on!!" he wailed.

**Ha Ha Ha Ha!**

"I've never witnessed a more pitiful display! You're pathetic!" Ozai ridiculed his son. "To defeat you like this shames me. Relinquish your throne and leave my sight, never to return, and I'll let you live."

"No."

"Are you sure?" the former Fire Lord teased. "Even if...I tell you what happened to your mother?"

"You're lying!" Zuko raged.

"Am I?" Ozai's vicious sneer exposed his canines, further infuriating Fire Lord Zuko.

_Must stay calm. I can beat him. I have to._ Zuko pep-thought himself. _We'll see how much you laugh then, father!_

"Have it your way, my supremely disappointing son." Ozai coldly replied. "After I wipe you from existence, I'll re-claim my rightful throne and, with my new...enhancements, turn my attention to that foul Earth Kingdom!"

"You're wrong, father! The Earth Kingdom isn't 'foul'! It's full of good people!" Zuko lectured. "In the schools Sozin started, we were taught that the war began because the other Nations were jealous of our superiority, and the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the world. What an incredible lie that was! On my journeys, I saw the world as it really is, and they hate the Fire Nation for bringing death and destruction into their lives! It's up to me to restore our honor and bring peace to the world!"

"Have you been talking to that traitor, Iroh? Bah! You had the world in your hand, and you threw it away for ridiculous ideas of 'peace'! You're a fool, and do not deserve to live!" the murderously angry Ozai declared as his whole body crackled with deadly lightning.

Zuko knew what was coming, and was prepared.

He remembered what his Uncle Iroh taught him about re-directing lightning and got into his stance to return Ozai's expected electric blast back at him.

_This is it! This is why destiny called for me to be the Avatar! If I stop my Dad, I save the world, and prove to everyone that…_

"Goodbye, my son." Ozai cruelly bade farewell to his failure of a child, about to put him out of his (Ozai's) misery for good. "Say hello to..."

Suddenly, Zuko felt a strange wave wash over him. His ears popped.

"Eh?" Ozai uttered. He sensed something was amiss, and hesitated. His flames extinguished, his legs wobbled, and then...

"...Ah...*"

...He passed out.

"What the f-??" a stunned Fire Lord Zuko blurted.

"Hi, Zuko. Miss me?"

The former Avatar who, for some reason, carried on his back, in a makeshift sling, the sleeping water bender, Katara, appeared behind the fallen Ozai and made a joke, playfully repeating the line Zuko had used on him during their climactic battle.

"Avatar Roku said I had to stop Ozai! And that's just what I did!" Aang gleefully exclaimed by way of exposition.

"No." the upset Fire Lord/Avatar gasped. "No. NO. **NO!!!**" he screamed, and beat his fists impotently upon the ground.

"Um, Zuko..." Aang tenderly inquired. "Are you okay?"

_No, Aang._

_He really isn't._

_Next:_

_The Epilogues!_

_Find out what happened to all your favorite heroes (and Zuko)!_

Notes / Comments

Welcome to your life, Zuko! There's no turning back now! Thanks to Tears For Fears for the lyrics.

"Are we human, or are we dancer" What the %#& does that mean??? Okay, I know The Killers are a good band and a lot of people like them, but seriously, what the fuck? And I ain't buying the stated explanation, either. It sounds like a load of crap! 'It's based on something Hunter Thompson said'. There's no record anywhere that Hunter Thompson ever said anything like that!

Zuko's crater glowed because his Avatar State activated while he was unconscious. That's how Yue was able to contact the water benders of the world in the previous chapter, as the Avatar is the bridge between the physical and spirit worlds.

Iroh told Zuko to "Get up!" in Episode 208, "The Chase".

I'm glad Ozai forced himself back into the story, because I needed a way to turn Zuko from villain to sympathetic figure so he could fulfill his role as the Avatar, and this was perfect! And I didn't even plan it! I love it when the characters know how to write themselves better than I do!

Plus, Aang redeems himself for his failure in losing the Avatar to Zuko, and Zuko turns into a crybaby wuss. So, everything's back to normal!

In the _Avatar _TV series, Ozai had no chance when Aang went all Avatar State on him. Then, to do the spirit bending/energy bending thing to him was sheer overkill. Why take his powers away? Don't you want to leave the villain some chance to mount a comeback? (Azula doesn't count. She can be evil and nasty without powers). I thought I had written Ozai out when Cornelia pantsed him in that fight, and didn't expect the disgraced former Fire Lord to return. So it was awesome when he wrote himself into the finale!

Avatar Roku told Aang he'd have to defeat Fire Lord Ozai, and he did, just not in the way he expected. In the TV episode, Roku tells Aang to 'listen carefully'. Roku says if Fire Lord Ozai succeeds in using the power of the comet, even 'the Avatar won't be able to restore balance to the world'. But Roku doesn't say who that Avatar is. He then names Aang as the one who must defeat the Fire Lord, by which he means the former Fire Lord, Ozai, the one who plans to use the comet's power to rule the world. But how? Mastering the four elements takes years of practice, and Aang has to defeat the Fire Lord by the end of summer. So Roku has set Aang an impossible task. Unless, he doesn't mean Aang is to use all four elements to defeat Ozai. Roku says 'you (Aang) must do it (defeat Ozai) by summer's end'. If the solution is not mastering all four elements or Avatar State action/'spirit bending', there must be another way to beat Ozai the fire bender, and it's probably an air bender technique, as Aang is an Air Nomad. It wouldn't take years for Aang to learn a new air bender form. Therefore, it offers a more realistic chance of victory.

Also, Roku told Aang Ozai was the real threat, but he made a distinction between what the Avatar had to do (restore balance to the world) and what Aang had to do (defeat Ozai). So he could have meant that the Avatar and Aang were two different people.

Some may not like how I end the fight, but it makes sense. Aang felling Ozai with 'vacuum bending' fits together with everything else in the story and the TV series perfectly. I love it when a plan comes together! Why didn't Aang use that technique earlier in the _Avatar _series when he fought fire benders? Because he didn't know about it. The 'vac attack' is a secret air bending form only taught to master air benders after years and years of training (also, 'cause it would have made fights WAY too easy!) And it's a hell of a lot better than 'spirit bending'!! Yeesh! In addition, it does explain how Monk Gyatso was able to take down a large contingent of the Fire Army all by himself, before succumbing to the marauders. And, in its gentler 'make people pass out' form, it meshes perfectly with the Air Nomads' non-violent ways.

The quote about fairy tales and dragons (commonly and succinctly re-phrased as "Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed") applies to Zuko. He thought Ozai was his dragon, and that he had to kill it/defeat Ozai (although he does his best to avoid it early on in the tale). But Zuko needs to learn his real dragon is inside him. It's unfortunate, and probably the biggest failing of the _Avatar _series, that Zuko never has a real definitive confrontation/resolution with his father, only the encounter on the day of the eclipse and the question about his mother in the finale. It may have satisfied some, but when you consider the TV show was almost as much about Zuko and his journey _from the beginning, _to so lightly 'wrap it up' was disappointing. At the end of the series, Zuko has a perfunctory battle with Azula that doesn't do anything to advance/resolve either of the characters' storylines, and Katara is there to muddy up any potential brother/sister dynamic (perhaps she was included as a favor to the Zutarans?). How much better to have Zuko face Ozai in final battle! Not that he'd have to win, as we see here. But to lay it all on the line...ah, satisfying!

Ozai came back to see if he could profit off the wave of discontent with Zuko among certain sectors of the populace (like The Third Way). If The Third Way deposed Zuko, Ozai could then depose them. He also returned for another reason, still to be revealed.

Zuko, because of his insanely huge Fire Nationy determination, tapped into the abilities of the Heart like no one else ever had (look at the way he used energy bonds to beat the others, or how he morphed Will, not to mention flying into space!), but he never understood the true gift of the Heart of Candracar that he wielded. It wasn't about power or bending the elements to your will. It was about transformation. Personal transformation. Due to that lack of understanding, Zuko wasn't able to 'rule his world', defeat Ozai or achieve his true goals.

The title is ironic. Zuko doesn't win.

Although he still could.


	16. Epilogue 1 Lose The War, Win The Peace

**Author's Note: The Epilogues - find out what happens to the Guardians and the heroes of the Avatar's world going forward (post-war). Expect some pleasant surprises!**

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

The Epilogues

Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse.

All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night.

Dawn and resurrection are synonymous.

The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.

- Victor Hugo

Epilogue 1: Losing The War / Winning The Peace

_Word spread quickly._

_The war was over._

_At dawn the next day, under a clear, bright blue sky, Fire Lord Zuko met the command ships of the Allied forces when they docked at the deep water port of Jambukola on the southern coast of the Fire Nation to sign a peace treaty._

_In return for the Allies calling off the invasion, the Fire Lord agreed to give the Colonies back to the Earth Kingdom. Plus, pay reparations to the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes in the form of needed supplies._

_Zuko's only proviso was that, during the transition period, the Fire Nation Colonies be administered by a third party._

_The aggrieved party (the Earth Kingdom generals and officials) eagerly agreed._

_A formal reception and peace-signing celebration was set for later that day at the Fire Lord's Palace._

_There, the signers of the treaty met the new 'third party' administrator of the Colonies - Fire Lord Zuko!_

_They thought someone else had that post - the Avatar._

_And he did._

_For the Fire Lord was now the Avatar. _

_Outraged at being tricked, some of the high-ranking officials and generals of the Earth Kingdom threatened to start a new war._

_However, as neither the representative of King Bumi, nor the official standing in for the Earth King of Ba Sing Se, nor the Water Tribes, supported that rash idea, a deal being a deal and they did sign it, after all, plus the former Avatar, Aang, assured them Zuko would keep his part of the bargain (not to mention the fact they were surrounded by thousands of Fire Nation troops at this point), the treaty was formally agreed to and the celebration was on!_

_Zuko had spent months preparing for this day._

_There was a reason why he had sent so many Fire Nation troops to the Colonies._

_To defend it, yes, if needed, but in reality the forces were mostly army engineering brigades tasked with the mission of removing valuable machinery and equipment and sending them, plus any citizens who so desired, back to the Fire Nation._

_100 years ago, the Fire Nation had run out of usable/arable land, as most of the country consisted of volcanic rock-blasted wastelands, uninhabited pieces of rock/desert islands, rugged mountains and impenetrable jungles/rain forests, all well away from trade routes and thus useless. So Fire Lord Sozin expanded the Nation eastward, into the Earth Kingdom._

_However, with the 'green'/sustainable development ideas promoted by Taranee and Cornelia, many Fire Nation lands previously thought unfit for industry or farming were placed back into productive use. A series of manufacturing communities were planned in the hinterlands of the Fire Nation for the relocation of the Colonies' rebuilt factories, using only the bare minimum of space needed, each with close access to local food sources, raw materials, water and transport. From the air, the new Fire Nation looked like a string of black pearls next to rainbow-colored agricultural patches, all surrounded by a sea of green._

_Soon, the Colonies would be hollowed out, and all that remained of the Fire Nation's mark on the Earth Kingdom would be a few coastal fishing villages, abandoned crop fields and played-out coal mines._

_It was the manufacturing secrets of the Fire Nation that many EK Generals, high-ranking officials and Earth Kingdom nobility were after (not that they'd ever admit this. They claimed they 'wanted their land' back but, as everyone knows, the Earth Kingdom has an abundance of land. More than enough for any purpose). Post-war, each hoped to seize a factory or two and set themselves up as captains of industry with superior technological advantages over their rivals. As has been noted by prominent Earth Kingdom officials, 'you can't trust domestic machinery' (see 'Long Feng', former Grand Secretary of Ba Sing Se and Special Adviser to the Earth King)._

_Fire Lord Zuko promised to give the Earth Kingdom their land back, and that's what he would do. But only the land. Nothing else._

_A mostly empty, near-worthless piece of scrub and brush that the newly-installed Governor, Long Feng, would find hard-pressed to utilize as a power base in his mad quest to seize control of the Earth Kingdom. Frustrated, the leader of the now much-diminished Dai Li would fade into history and insignificance._

_Even the offer of reparations/supplies had an ulterior motive. Zuko hoped to establish new markets for Fire Nation goods._

_To pull off this plan, Zuko needed time. After all, Rome wasn't stripped down to the bare walls in a day._

_That was why he held onto the Colonies and agitated the Earth Kingdom into further conflict._

_(Oh, and to become the Avatar, of course)._

_Fire Lord Zuko ended the war, saved the Fire Nation from a ruinous invasion and set it on a course of future prosperity. Plus, he did it with honor._

_Not that anyone would care about any of that._

_Not after they learned what else he had done._

_Next:_

_Our heroes feast._

_And talk._

_That's pretty much it._

_No more killing people or beating them to within an inch of their life with a splintery artificial foot._

_But there's still drama._

_And secrets revealed._

Notes / Comments

Jambukola was an ancient Sri Lankan port, and connected East to West. Thus, it's the perfect place for two peoples to come together in peace.

Taranee's proposal for a 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission', to bring to light the pain and suffering the people endured over the last 100 years, restore victims' dignity and give amnesty to those deserving of it (modeled after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa), was enthusiastically greeted by the Allied representatives at the peace treaty signing until she explained it would apply to all sides. Then it was summarily rejected. A few delegates tried to amend the proposal so the Commission would be a war crimes tribunal only concerned with Fire Nation wrongs, but this effort died due to a lack of votes.


	17. Epilogue 2 Post Victory Brunch

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 2: Post-Victory Celebration Brunch, Or, Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson

"What I don't get is, why would Koh the Spirit want to destroy the world?" Katara curiously asked, then dug into the enticing brunch foodstuffs. "It doesn't make sense!"

After the battle came the war stories as, for the first time in ages, our heroes, reunited at last, relaxed among friends and shared a meal.

"Do the words 'crazy much' mean anything to you?" Irma quipped. "Mmm! This is pretty good!" Mr. Lair's hungry daughter complimented the meal.

Well, war stories and food. They had been invited to stay in the Fire Lord's Palace (the new & luxurious, non-destroyed one) by the reformed / apologetic / very VERY VERY SORRY (but mostly embarrassed) leader of the Fire Nation, after all! Although 'invite' may be a bit too strong of a word to describe Zuko's perfunctory statement to the Guardians and the GAang that they were welcome in the Palace as guests of the Fire Nation, which he said right after his rambling, grumbled apology. Tired of war and strife and refugee camps, our heroes wholeheartedly availed themselves of the hospitality and accommodations!

"Yeah, the food is excellent!" Aang praised. "I can't believe Zuko serves a whole vegetarian menu! I haven't eaten this well in a long time" the Air Nomad said as he speared some delectable Fire Nation fruit.

"That was my idea. You have got to try the jasmine rice when Chef serves it for dinner. It's scrumptious!" Cornelia replied. "But wouldn't Hay Lin have whipped up some of her family's favorite veggie dishes for you?" Cornelia Hale directed her gaze to the Air Guardian, but received no response. "Hay Lin?" she asked again.

"Hmm? Uh, we didn't have a whole lot of different kinds of food supplies in camp, and I'm more of a food server in the restaurant, you know?" Hay Lin answered in a tired tone of voice as she picked at her food.

"Oh." Cornelia quickly moved the discussion to something else. "Like the firecakes, Irma? If you want more, just ask Chef to whip you up some! He makes the best firecakes in the Capital!"

"Cornelia!"

"What? It's okay now, Taranee! Will is back and everyone's together, so we're not 'collaborating'." said the Earth Guardian, using air quotes to emphasize the c-word and speaking it in a deep voice.

"Fine! Have it your way!" the fiery Taranee Cook snapped.

"Don't mind if I do!" Irma eagerly interjected, then proceeded to give a rather large order to the Palace's food preparer.

Taranee couldn't believe the way her friends were acting! Maybe Irma had somewhat of an excuse, being stuck in an Earth Kingdom refugee camp for months and then on a ship, but Cornelia? The girl acted like she lived in the Palace!

"Anyway," Taranee continued the conversation, trying to ignore her companions' bad manners, "it's obvious, in hindsight, why Koh wanted Cornelia to be this 'Plant Spirit'. He probably thought he could use her to re-make the planet in his image after he demolished it with the comet!" the Fire Guardian theorized.

"I don't see what we have to worry about! Koh only got as far as he did because he tricked Zuko into helping him with the Heart of Candracar. Who'd be crazy enough, or even powerful enough, to help that weird Spirit now?" Cornelia chimed in, then dipped her spoon into a bowl of soup.

"Is that a trick question?" Caleb merrily jumped into the conversation with a grin.

"What?? Are you saying Zuko's so crazy he'd help Koh??" Cornelia stopped sipping her soup and confronted her boyfriend on the subject of the new Avatar. "He wouldn't do that!"

"Nooooo. Not quite what I meant." Caleb carefully answered. "Aren't you forgetting Prince Phobos? He's still out there somewhere!"

"Oh. Right." Cornelia sheepishly replied.

"Wow. Awk-ward!" Toph joked. "And that's just the body language I can 'see'!" the blind, vibration-sensing earth bender joked.

"Toph!" Katara gently scolded the girl with the big mouth.

"Forget that guy! Let's talk about a more pleasant topic, like anything else!" Irma changed the subject. "Corny, you never told us how you stopped Long Feng and those Dai Li plant bender guys!"

"Let's just say Long Feng and his men are 'pushing up daisies'." Cornelia giggled.

"You killed them??" a shocked Aang exclaimed.

"What? No!! I mean, they really are pushing up daisies! I couldn't take their earth bending away from them, like Zuko could with the Heart but, as the 'Plant Spirit', I could re-direct their bending to one area of their body - in this case, their nose. You should have seen them, desperately rubbing their noses in the ground trying to make their powers work!"

"Ha! That's hilarious, Corny!" Irma laughed. "Isn't that funny, Hay Lin?"

"Yeah. Sounds great."

Even though they won/stopped the war/saved the world, Hay Lin's mood was as down as ever. Irma wondered what she could do to cheer her friend up. The Air Guardian seemed inconsolable.

"So you went up against Ozai without all your Avatar powers?" Caleb noted. "That was pretty brave."

"Weren't you scared, Aang?" Cornelia wondered.

"Yeah, Ozai was freaky powerful! All that comet _whoosh _and _burnnn_." the Water Guardian added.

"After facing my worst fear," the young Air Monk replied, pausing to look, with a loving smile on his face, at Katara, who responded by blushing profusely, "Ozai was nothing! Well, not nothing _exactly_. But I didn't think about it."

"How'd you beat Ozai, Twinkletoes?" Toph asked, then stuffed her face with deep-fried dough dipped in a special, spicy Fire Nation congee. _Chomp munch munch._

"I took the air away from him, created a...what's it called...a vacuum?" the air bender answered.

"Makes sense! Fire needs air to survive, so if you take it away..." the Fire Guardian observed.

"Plus, someone told me that fire benders get their power from breathing. Which must mean oxygen. And everyone knows oxygen feeds fire. Well, at least everyone on my world! So, it's a no-brainer! Kinda makes you wonder why no one thought of it before!" Cornelia blithely commented before biting into her serving of long grain snagglegrass pilaf, unknowingly making everyone around her feel really stupid!

"Uh, yeah." Irma muttered, politely trying to keep a lid on the annoyed craziness the blonde banker's daughter usually incited in her. "So, how'd you figure out the vacuum thing, Aang?"

"I got the idea from Hay Lin. Thanks, Hay Lin!" Aang praised his fellow air elemental.

"No problem, Aang." The Air Guardian smiled.

Finally, Hay Lin responded in a positive way to something, Irma noted. This cheered the Water Guardian up considerably. There was hope for Hay Lin yet!

"So you had the power to defeat Ozai all along! Just put your feet together and say 'I want to beat Ozai! I want to beat Ozai'!" Irma joked.

"What??" the baffled air bender uttered.

Cornelia and Taranee both laughed at the _Wizard of Oz _reference.

"Oh. Is that another 'your world' joke?" Aang, weary of Irma's sense of humor, retorted.

"I guess Hay Lin's 'air bending forms' are good for something, huh, Katara?" Irma prodded her fellow water-using elemental.

Caught off-guard, it took a moment for the Water Tribe girl to respond. ".......I guess. Thanks, Hay Lin. I owe you one."

"Really? Ah, you're welcome, Katara."

Irma elbowed Katara, encouraging her to say something more to Hay Lin to heal the rift between the two, but the water bender ignored the sharp jabs.

"So the pacifist Air Nomads had the secret to ending the war all along?" Cornelia threw out the thought of the day. "And we find out now??"

"I suppose you could say that. But it's not easy to create an airless vacuum. I could only do it because Hay Lin showed me." Aang clarified.

"Hay Lin does have great control over air. Why, I bet she could even separate out the gases that make up the air, much as Toph can bend metal separately from dirt and rock." Taranee postulated.

"Um, air is made up of different gases??" a confused Aang replied.

"Now that I think about it, my people always knew of the fire benders' weakness. Remember those scrolls of previous Fire Nation attacks on the other nations that Sokka found in the Spirit Library?" the Air Monk continued.

"He complained they were useless because they didn't say how the Fire Nation got smacked down!" Toph answered.

"Right! They would only say that the people in trouble called in some group or person, and they stopped the Fire Army. Those people had to be Air Nomads! That's why they had temples all over the world! Air benders must have kept the fire benders in check for centuries!" Aang realized. "They probably kept their identity secret to prevent retaliation."

"Oh! So that's why the Fire Nation wiped out the Air Nomads 100 years ago!" Irma unthinkingly blurted. "They must have figured out who was settling their hash!"

"And the vacuum bending...that explains why we found so many Fire soldier...remains...with your friend and master, Monk Gyatso. I'm so sorry, Aang!" Katara sympathized.

"Yeah...."

Unbidden, a tear rolled down Aang's cheek, and he gently wiped it away.

After giving the former Avatar a moment to compose himself, the conversation resumed.

"So...They didn't attack the Air Nomads for their 'freedom' or even 'cause they had the next Avatar, huh?" Toph questioned.

"No. I never did understand their obsession with me. It always seemed pointless. Because if they would have gotten rid of me, they'd still have to deal with another Avatar from the Water Tribe, and so on. But the Avatar was never their true target. They were only after me because I was an air bender." Aang faced the awful truth for the first time.

"Don't worry, Aang. There'll be more air benders someday. You're not alone." Katara put her hand on the youthful monk's shoulder, consoling the boy she cared so very much for.

"Thanks." Aang's face brightened, and his mood improved. "But even with my air advantage, I never would have beat the former Fire Lord without Zuko's help! Ozai was so focused on his son, he never noticed what I was doing until it was too late! A toast to...Hey, where is Zuko??" he asked, spinning his head 'round in a fruitless attempt to locate the Fire Lord among the celebratory brunch crowd of Fire Nation officials, Earth Kingdom dignitaries and Water Tribe representatives.

"And where'd Will go?" Irma wondered as to the whereabouts of their fearless leader. She thought the Keeper of the Heart had merely gone to the brunch table to pick up her meal selections, but she wasn't there, or in the room at all.

"Yeah, where is she? I have to talk to her about...something." Taranee added in all seriousness.

"Me, too." Cornelia humbly agreed.

"Ditto." a non-joking Irma parroted the others. "What about you, Hay Lin?"

"Yes." the morose Guardian of Air meekly replied. Then she quickly looked away, unable to return the worried gazes of her teammates.

_Next:_

_Will and Zuko_

Notes / Comments

Also, destroying the world hurts/kills the other Spirits, making Koh the number one Spirit once more.


	18. Epilogue 3 Will and Zuko

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 3: Will and Zuko

Will Vandom knew she shouldn't worry her friends unnecessarily, especially after such a long time apart, but she had things to do, and not a whole lot of time in which to do them. She sensed the Guardians' remaining time on this world was short.

On the veranda outside the throne room of the old Palace, overlooking the pond where Zuko's mother, Ursa, used to feed the turtleducks (the part of the Royal Palace and Gardens not demolished by Zuko when he had his 'tantrum'. Strangely enough, even with all the recent invasion craziness and tremors and Avatars bursting in the air, the gardens had never looked better), the Keeper of the Heart of Candracar found who she was looking for: Fire Lord Zuko, her former captor.

He was alone.

And brooding. Which was normal for him.

Although the events of the past few days were definitely not normal for anybody.

"Hey...Are you okay?" Will gently inquired.

"What do you care?!" Zuko peevishly snapped. The Fire Lord didn't turn to face his victim. Instead, he continued staring at the Palace grounds.

"I know how hard it is to be the leader, to have everyone looking to you for answers...And how terrible it is when you don't have any." the Guardian of the Heart sensitively said.

"............." Zuko said nothing. He merely frowned.

"Hey, but at least there's a happy ending, right?" Will offered with a smile.

"Happy?? What's so happy about it?! My girlfriend hates me, I nearly destroyed the country, which, when everyone hears about that they'll hate me, too, and when I had the opportunity to redeem myself and save the whole world from my father, I couldn't even do that! I'm a failure, and everyone hates me!" Zuko railed at being made destiny's bastard.

"Your uncle doesn't hate you." Will Vandom informed the young Fire Lord.

"Are you kidding me?? I locked him away in a dungeon and threw away the key!! Besides, what would you know about my uncle, anyway??!"

Will shook her head and picked up a glass filled to its midpoint. "See this?" she asked.

"A half empty glass. So?" Zuko retorted.

"No. Half full."

"Zuko...Everyone doesn't hate you. And you may not have stopped Ozai, but you did have a hand in his defeat. Plus, you're the Avatar now. Build on that."

Then Will put the goblet down with a loud _CLINK_ and a splash of water.

"Quit whining and fill the glass!"

_Next:_

_W.I.T.C.H._


	19. Epilogue 4 WITCH

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 4: W.I.T.C.H.

"Without you around, well, we made a lot of mistakes, Will." Irma admitted.

Following brunch, in a private conference room of the Palace (the former War room), the Guardians gathered to discuss their actions over the past few months.

"But nothing that serious, right?" Will smiled, hoping to immediately ease her friends' minds and brighten the mood. However, the four elemental Guardians didn't cheer up, worrying Will Vandom. "Guys?" she asked again.

Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin looked at each other guiltily.

"I, I caused the death of..."

"That was an accident, Corny!" Irma rushed to the defense of her friend.

"Okay, but this wasn't!" Cornelia retorted. "If not for me, Zuko would never have gotten as powerful and dangerous as he did! I told him how to use the Heart to increase and decrease our elemental abilities!" said the contrite Earth Guardian.

"Yeah, well, I almost made a BIG mistake with those Dai Li guys! If Cornelia hadn't stopped me..." said Irma, eyes cast downward, referring to taking over Long Feng and the Dai Li's bodies, and almost ending them.

"You think that's something? I nearly blew up the whole nation!" Taranee exclaimed.

"You blew up some volcanoes, but Zuko was the one who nearly wrecked the country with his comet craziness!" the Water Guardian pointed out.

"But he couldn't have done that without my help! I gave Zuko and his people data on observatories and grinding glass. I thought they'd use it for scientific research..." the Fire Guardian sadly informed her colleagues.

"Alright! I get it! But it's okay now! We'll have to learn from our mistakes and move on." the Energy Guardian instructed her teammates.

"My mistake was worse." Hay Lin quietly spoke up for the first time.

"Worse? Oh, you mean Azula? Don't worry about that! She totally had it coming!" Irma grinned, dismissing Hay Lin's provoked act of rage against the devious Fire Princess.

"I killed a dragon." Hay Lin interjected, announcing the shocking news as calmly as saying she was doing her laundry.

"Hay Lin!!" Cornelia screamed.

"You, you could never..!" Irma uttered. _Although, after that beating you gave Azula, nothing would surprise me any more!" _she thought.

"But I did!" Hay Lin confessed, eyes wide with pain. Then she hung her head, symbolically 'throwing herself upon the mercy of the court'.

"Okay, Hay Lin." Will laid her arm supportively on the Air Guardian's shoulder. "Calmly now, tell us what happened."

After the young Asian girl detailed her battle with the three dragons, including the fate of the third fire-breather, who Hay Lin drove from the sky, causing it to fall to its death in the street far below, the other Guardians told her many things. That it wasn't her fault, since it was Zindao that sicced the dragons on the people and she was only trying to protect everyone. That she acted out of noble reasons, such as to save Momo. That she couldn't have known what would happen when she froze the air around the dragon.

To no avail.

"But I should have known!" Hay Hay wailed. "Air is my power. I should know everything it can do!"

Will Vandom took a deep breath and thought for a moment.

Then she addressed her Candracar-powered companions.

"I'm sorry I wasn't around for you guys. You may have made mistakes, but that's part of life. That's going to happen. The important thing is to learn from your mistakes. And..." Will looked at each of her fellow Guardians "...when it came right down to it, even without my leadership, you were there, not just for me, but for each other! Think back to what you did, how you supported each other in this time of crisis. That's where you'll find the answer to your questions."

The girls remembered...Irma refused Zuko's offer to fight him one-on-one and decided to help the others instead...Cornelia left the injured Caleb with Jun and traveled with the girls to find Will...all of them went along with Taranee's intuition/plan to split up...Hay Lin wouldn't abandon Taranee or violate her non-violent beliefs at Iroh's prison cell...Cornelia & Irma embraced the grieving Toph...all four elemental Guardians, facing certain death, united to defy Zindao and his Third Way goons...finally, they joined together to bring Will back.

"It's possible to watch certain events from the 'Spirit World' where I was trapped, and I can tell you,,," Will placed her hand on the downcast Hay Lin's chin and tipped her head up to look her in the eye "…You ALL made me proud!"

"I know what you're saying, Will, and I appeciate it. But it can't erase what I did." the Guardian of Air somberly told her friend.

"Hay Lin...I think we can do something about your mistake." Will confidently declared.

The winged Guardians flew to the site of Hay Lin's battle with the War Dragons and found the third firedrake still in the crater it made in the street. Luckily, recovery/clean-up operations hadn't yet hauled it off to to a landfill.

The dragon was dying, but it wasn't dead yet.

However, its existence was hanging by a thread. It wouldn't survive much longer.

Plus, there was something _special _about the injured, 20-foot fire-breather.

"Puff!"

Taranee recognized the dragon as the adult version of the little winged reptile she and Cornelia befriended a few months ago (see the upcoming _Cornelia & Taranee's Adventure in the Fire Nation_), although Puff had obviously grown quite a bit since then.

_What else happened to it? _Taranee wondered. _What did Zindao do to the little fella to turn him into a weapon?_

"We have to save him!" she exclaimed.

"Zuko used his breath on me when I was unconscious, and it revived me, so maybe we should try that!" Cornelia suggested.

"Zuko did what now?? Breath on you? Jeez, I hope no tongue was involved!" Irma quipped.

"Irma!" an indignant Cornelia Hale shouted down her loudmouth friend.

"Puff fell when Hay Lin froze him, which could have turned off his fire-breathing, so maybe if I heat him up..." the Fire Guardian offered as she placed fiery hands on the creature's chest, closest to its heart.

"Ew! Those scales are so creepy!" Irma shivered as she touched the dragon's reptilian skin with her wet hands (her, unbeknowest to the Water Guardian, special _healing _hands!) "Hey, he is getting warmer! Keep it up, Tara! I think it's working!" Irma added.

"Maybe Cornelia has something with that 'breath' idea." the Air Guardian said as she exhaled her element on the dragon's head, bathing it in life-giving oxygen. "Fire benders get their power from breathing, so maybe dragons do, too!"

Within moments, the great beast stirred.

Then the War Dragon once known as 'Puff' opened his huge eyes and looked at the Guardians!

Fearful of what it might do, the girls backed away.

Except Hay Lin.

Frozen to the spot where she stood, the battling air sprite who laid the creature low nervously confronted the victim of her injudicious acts.

Before any could take action to rescue the Guardian of Air, the dragon opened his mouth and...

_Licked _Hay Lin??

Immediately, the air maiden and the friendly dragon were mobbed by the other girls.

"Puff! You're okay!" an excited Taranee yelled as she hugged the good-natured gargantuan.

"I think Puff likes you, Hay Lin!" Cornelia commented. "I knew my breath idea would work!"

"Hey, it was Tara's idea to heat him up!" Irma noted. "And I helped, too...I think."

"It took all of you to bring him back!" Will declared. "I'm so proud of you guys!"

Puff kneeled before the Guardians.

"Hey, I think he wants to give us a ride!" Hay Hay said.

After the girls clambered aboard Puff's back, a still worried Hay Lin asked the Guardian leader "I guess Puff was already friendly, but what about the other dragons? Zindao turned peaceful animals into mean war machines! Do you think they can be re-trained?"

As the fantastic fire-breathing animal of the Fire Nation soared into the sky, Will answered with an unusual amount of certainty "I'm sure, Hay Lin!"

Will Vandom winked at the dragon, and Puff purred back.

Unseen by anyone else, electricity crackled from the Energy Guardian's hand.

_Next:_

_Hay Lin and Katara_

Notes / Comments

Puff the dragon first appeared in the companion piece "Cornelia and Taranee's Adventures in the Fire Nation 1: Matchmakers", which is coming out later.

The Guardians failed when they followed their anger and separately attacked Zuko. They succeeded when they joined together and allowed their love (for Will, or the dragon, or whatever) to show the way to victory.

The important thing about that last scene is that, not only did Will covertly help revive Puff the Dragon, she didn't bother to tell the others. Sure, she wants to boost their confidence, but this secretive behavior Will exhibits is troubling.


	20. Epilogue 5 Hay Lin and Katara

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 5: Hay Lin and Katara

_Knock Knock_

"Hay Lin? The others are wondering what's taking you so long. They're all ready for the evening's reception."

The voice at the open door to the Air Guardian's room in the Palace tower didn't belong to any of her teammates. Instead, it was someone who usually avoided the air sprite.

"Why are you here, Katara?" the Asian girl wearily replied without even looking at the Water Tribe lass. Hay Lin was lying on her stomach on her bed, with her hands on her chin propping up her head, gazing out the window at Capital City,

"Like I said, I'm here to fetch you for the party. And I thought we could talk, you know." Katara cautiously responded as she searched for the right words to say. "I, I may not have always said it, but I just wanted to let you know how...proud I am to know you, and to thank you again for what you did for Aang."

"Irma put you up to this, didn't she?" Hay Lin shot back without skipping a beat.

"That's not...This was my decision, Hay Lin. Not Irma's."

"It's okay, Katara. I understand. Because you were right about me! I am a bad seed!"

"No, you're not, Hay Lin." Katara sensitively said as she sat down on the bed next to the traumatized Guardian of Air. "Don't ever say that! You're a good person! You've just been through a lot."

"You saw what I did to Azula! And I almost killed Puff the Dragon. I got real lucky on that!"

"But without you, Ozai would have won and everyone in the world would have suffered!"

"That was Aang's doing."

"He couldn't have done it without you!"

"I guess."

"You think you're the only one with a touch of evil inside you? I had a choice yesterday, too, and I almost made the wrong one!"

"But you didn't, did you?"

"No. And Aang paid for it. Because of my action, or inaction, I should say, Aang is no longer the Avatar! Something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life. Sometimes there aren't easy answers to the problems we face. We can only make the best choice we can, and hope everything else works out."

"Does it ever get any easier?" Hay Lin turned to face the water bender and asked, desperately searching for an answer.

"I don't know. But it does get easier to bear."

"How??"

"Your friends. Let them help you."

Immediately, Hay Lin was surrounded by Katara and the other Guardians, plus Aang and Caleb, who enveloped the depressed Air girl in a group hug.

"Th-thank you, Katara!" Hay Lin shed tears of joy.

"Thanks, guys!" _Sniff _ "I'll be okay now." the Air Guardian wiped her tears away. " Don't worry. I'll get ready for the party."

The others exited the room, but Katara stayed behind.

"I'm sorry if I may have treated you poorly, Hay Lin. It's just, when it comes to Aang, sometimes I have these blinders on, and I don't see things clearly..." Katara tried to explain her behavior towards the female air elemental over the past few months.

"I understand. Love makes us do nutty things!"

"Love? I mean, sure, I like Aang and all, but...I thought Aang loved you?!?"

"Are you kidding me?? All he talks about is how much he loves you, Katara! It's okay. Love can be a scary thing. But Aang needs to hear it from you. Just tell him. Follow your heart."

"You think **I** love Aang??"

"Sure you do! I've seen how you act around him. Tell me, Katara, when you're all alone, when you're in trouble, when you think no one understands you...Who do you think of? When you're at your happiest, who is beside you?"

"I..." Katara thought about it. And it was true. Whenever she ran into a rough patch, Aang was there for her. And just being with him at the end, when she thought they were all going to die from the comet, was enough to soothe her soul. She couldn't imagine living without the air bender's ready smile, the way he embraced all that life had to offer.

"You're right, Hay Lin. I do love Aang. How did you get so wise??"

"Must be that air bender wisdom Aang talks so much about! It must have rubbed off on me."

"Well...I'm glad some of his ways did."

"Me, too."

"Are you guys done in there?" the voice from outside the room rang out. It was Irma. Talking about food. As usual. " 'Cause we got to get to that reception feast before Toph polishes everything off! It won't be like brunch. They're serving meat!"

_Next:_

_Aang and Roku_

_One issue gets resolved, and another problem pops up!_

_Don't you just hate that?_


	21. Epilogue 6 Aang and Roku

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 6: Aang and Roku

"I sense you have many questions, Aang."

In his dreams the previous night, after the battle that saved the world and ended the war, Aang finally had a peaceful night's sleep.

Even more satisfying, Aang spoke once more with the Avatar before him: Roku of the Spirit World.

"Yes, I do." Aang said as he and Roku walked through an ever-changing Spirit World landscape. "I don't understand, Master Roku. I thought **I** had to defeat the Fire Lord and restore balance to the world?"

"Not quite, Aang. Yes, you had to defeat Fire Lord Ozai to save the world from his tyranny, because if Zuko had done it, it would have been seen as more violence, a son striking down his father for power. But it was Prince Zuko's destiny to restore balance to the world, as it was his forebears that caused the world to fall out of balance…"

"You mean Sozin AND the Dark Avatar, right?"

"Correct, Aang. And I must humbly include myself on that list, also, as I am Zuko's great-grandfather and the Avatar who failed to check Sozin's mad desires of conquest. So it is up to Zuko to restore the balance. Only then can the world know peace."

"And the only way Zuko can restore the balance is if he is the Avatar. I see now, Master. Thank you."

Aang paused, thought for a moment, and then...

"But why did you tell me I had to master all four elements if I wasn't going to be the Avatar or use them to defeat Ozai?"

"To keep you focused on your goal, Aang. There was a strong chance Zuko would fail to achieve his destiny, and if that happened, the Avatar State was your best hope of defeating the Fire Lord since the art of 'vacuum bending', as you call it, was lost with the departure of the Air Nomads from the world. And the only way to master the Avatar State..."

"...Was mastering all four bending forms. Of course! Wow, talk about mad genius!" Aang added, recalling what Bumi told him those long months ago.

"We did try to warn you of the difficulty you faced, Aang, but the dark Spirit Koh kept myself and the other spirits in bondage. I was only able to penetrate my prison once, the morning before you set sail for the Fire Lands."

"Yeah. Zuko's 'spiritcatcher'! And then the lion-turtle tried to help me, but I was unable to use his wisdom…"

"What was that, Aang?"

"Nothing, Master…I suppose this is the last time we'll talk like this. Now that Zuko is the Avatar, you'll probably want to communicate through him."

"Not necessarily, Aang. Though you've lost the Avatar spirit, you still hold a special place in the hearts of the previous Avatars, and we'd be honored if you would continue to speak to us on occasion."

"Really, Master? The honor is all mine!"

"Besides...trying to tell family what to do can be a real pain in the posterior! They never listen!"

"I hear that, Master Roku. I hear that!"

"Oh, and Aang...Zuko won't be able to complete his tasks alone. He's going to need help."

_Next:_

_Katara and Aang_

Notes / Comments

Zuko has the power and soul of the Avatar, but not the memories, because Aang does, since he was born with them and didn't die. Yeah, it's confusing. Deal with it.


	22. Epilogue 7 Katara and Aang

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 7: Katara and Aang

"Katara? Hay Lin said you wanted to talk to me?"

In the greenhouse in the Palace, the master water bender met with her student.

But it was a different type of bending they would discuss today.

Emotional bending.

"Yes, Aang. I've been thinking about things." Katara said as she examined the amazing amount of flowers and greenery Cornelia had recently (and instantly) grown for the formal reception to celebrate the end of the war and the start of a brand new era of peace for the world. She had never seen such an exotic collection of plants all in one place. Certainly not at her home in the icy South Pole. There were even plenty of vegetative samples that would never grow in the hot, dry soil of the Fire Nation. Yet, they were thriving.

"Yes? And?" Aang asked.

No matter how fascinating the greenery, no matter how much she would like to be distracted from the issue at hand, Katara couldn't avoid the subject anymore and turned to her air bending friend.

But was a little unnerved by his behavior.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Katara inquired.

"It's just...you look so pretty in that robe." Aang sheepishly replied, grinning like an idiot.

"Thanks. Isn't it nice? Hay Lin picked it out. She's really got an eye for fashion. You...look really good, too."

"It's a traditional outfit."

"Oh. Well, sure it is. It, uh, fits you perfectly."

Katara turned away from Aang. What she was about to say got to the very heart of the matter between them. It wouldn't be easy to tell this boy what was on her mind. How would he take it? Aang's always been so impulsive! She wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing, but it had to be done!

"Anyway, Aang, I've been thinking about the future, and what I want to do and..."

_This is it! She's going to tell me she's leaving to go back home! _Aang feared.

Katara looked the Air Monk in the eye and said...

"You really worried me when you fought Zuko."

_Huh? _"I'm sorry, Katara, but when I saw what I thought he did to you I...I just…kinda lost it and..."

"Aang, promise me you'll never try a crazy stunt like that ever again!"

"Well, I'm not the Avatar anymore, so sure, I'll never do that again...Katara? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Katara wrapped her arms around the air bender and kissed him. Then Aang kissed her back. They repeated this act. Over and over and...

"**Finally!!! Woohoo!**"

The cheers arose from the nosy girls outside.

"I bet Sokka is smiling." Toph commented. "And if he's not, I'll go the Spirit World myself and make him!"

"Looks like we have an audience." Katara said to her paramour.

"Ah, forget them!" Aang replied, and kissed the lovely Southern Water Tribe lass once more.

"So...you're not leaving me?" Aang asked after he came up for air.

"Leave? Why would I leave? People still need help. There's a lot of reconstruction to do. And we have to bring the Air Nomads back!" Katara added, with a wink.

"Oh yeah." Then Aang realized what the wink meant. "Oh...Yeah!"

"I love you, Aang! I couldn't admit it before, not even to myself, but now that you're not the Avatar, it's like anything is possible! I don't have to worry anymore if someone is after you, or if you'll disappear to fix a Spirit problem!"

"I love you, too, Katara!" Aang responded affectionately. "And you're right. Being the Avatar is definitely something I don't have to worry about anymore!"

Wo_w! _thought Aang. _I'll have to not be the Avatar a lot more often!_

_Next:_

_Zuko and the GAang_

Notes / Comments

This reveals a truth many _Avatar _fans don't understand. They mis-read the relationship between Aang and Katara. They think because Katara doesn't stare at Aang with goo-goo eyes or say lovey-dovey things, she doesn't love him. (And if she doesn't love Aang, she's free to love someone else, such as Zuko. That's what they hope, anyway. But they're wrong). However, not everyone makes public displays of affection. Love is not always quite so...animated. The real story is that Katara to hesitant to declare her love, because she lost her mother and felt her father blamed her for it, which is why Hakoda left her and Sokka at the South Pole. It's not true, she knows it isn't true, but she feels that way deep down inside. So, for Katara to say "I love you" to Aang is really hard for her because, as the Avatar, he's constantly in danger. He could leave her at any time, either due to someone gunning for the Avatar or because he had to go to the Spirit World to fix some problem there. In "The Ember Island Players", when Aang asked Katara if they were going to be together, she said "we're in the middle of a war and we have other things to worry about. This isn't the right time." Katara also said she was confused. She didn't say she didn't love him. She said she couldn't, not yet, because the threat of Ozai still hung over them.

Now that Aang is free of his Avatarhood in this timeline, and the danger to the world is ended, Katara feels free to love him with all her heart.

Of course, this will just lead to more problems.

Katara's ambivalent feelings towards her father also explain why, in my story, Katara doesn't run up to her father like Sokka does when they first reunite in Chapter 3. In the television series, Katara blew the meeting off. Here, she couldn't do that.


	23. Epilogue 8 Zuko and the GAang

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 8: Zuko and the GAang

"Why didn't you tell us about the Colonies, Zuko? Why didn't you tell us you needed time to re-settle the Colonies' people and factories in the Fire Nation when we were at the Omashu Peace Conference three months ago?" a very puzzled and frustrated Aang asked. "Why go through all this?!?"

Before the opening of the Reception To Honor The Nations (to celebrate the end of the war), the GAang cornered Zuko. They had questions they needed answers to.

Among other concerns.

"If I had announced, 'Sure, we'll give the Colonies back to you, after we strip it of all its valuable property', the Earth Kingdom might have invaded right then and there, under the pretext they were 'liberating their land', to prevent us 'stealing' from them, even though it was our property and we were just taking it back! So it had to be done in secret." Fire Lord Zuko explained, as workers scurried back and forth through the halls of the Palace, moving the flowers and plants from the greenhouse to the reception hall. "Now that I've agreed to give the land back and there are only a few of the largest complexes left, they can't go to war over it, or they'll look like they blatantly want to grab the remaining factories. And who would war over factories?? The people would never support it!"

"I don't know. I've heard of leaders of countries who go to war for less. For instance, over what's in the ground!" Irma bitterly observed.

"You mean coal?"

"Something like that."

"But that's insane!"

"And yet, there it is."

"It's too bad the delegates voted down the Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Taranee interjected. "An organization like that could help heal some of the pain caused by the war over the last 100 years. It's not really about war crimes or punishment, it's about justice. A version of it on our world helped a country called South Africa recover from years of oppression."

"Maybe we can start our own Truth and, what did you call it? Reconciliation Commission?" Zuko suggested.

"Really?"

"Sure. And Aang would be the best choice to head it, as it should be as multi-National as possible."

"Thanks, Zuko!"

"No problem. If I'm going out, might as well go out with a bang! People will hate me plenty. What's a little more?""

"Now that I've answered your questions, I have one for you..."

Aang, Toph, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, Will and Hay Lin anxiously looked at each other.

_What now? _they all thought.

"...Does anyone want..."

"No, Zuko! We don't want any fire ale!!!" they all shouted.

"Okay, okay! Geez! Just asking! And now that that's over, I can finally get to the reception! I mean, I am the host. It wouldn't be right for me to be late, so..."

"Uh uh, hothead! You're not going anywhere!" Toph angrily declared. "You've still got a lot to answer for!"

_Next:_

_Zuko and Iroh_


	24. Epilogue 9 Iroh and Zuko

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 9: Iroh and Zuko

"Your uncle was injured saving us, and all he says is he wants to see you!" Cornelia Hale barked.

Outside the medical tent set up on the grounds of the Red Zone security area near the Palace, the young Fire Lord struggled against his fate.

"I don't think this is such a good idea. Maybe I can come back when he's feeling better?"

"Get in there, bub!" Toph yelled as she earthbended the leader of the Fire Nation inside the tent. "Time to face the music!"

"So..." Toph said with a grin, "...anyone willing to bet Zuko gets fried extra crispy, or just regular lightning-zapped?"

"Uncle…?" Zuko uttered upon seeing the occupied bed in front of him. It was angled so he couldn't see the patient's face. The Fire Lord could only make out his legs. There was a young woman standing over the bed. She turned, glared at Zuko with a look of pure disgust etched on her face, then walked right by him and out of the tent.

Zuko recognized the girl.

It was Aang's friend.

Katara the water bender.

"Uncle...I know you must hate me and there's nothing I can ever do or say to make it up to you, but I am so sorry!!"

Zuko collapsed in a sobbing heap on the floor next to the cot, unable to even look at the subject of his shame.

A hand fell from the bed and gently caressed the unruly mop of hair on the Fire Lord's head.

"Zuko...nephew...You're not the only one who's made mistakes."

Zuko slowly gazed upwards. Amazingly, he didn't see any anger or rage in his Uncle's eyes.

Only sadness.

Caring.

_Love?_

"But...all those things I did to you!...How can you...?"

Uncle Iroh tenderly wrapped his recently injured (though now greatly healed) arms around his only nephew in a loving embrace of forgiveness.

"Because you were lost, but now you've found yourself."

Outside the tent, although most cheered the (overheard) emotionally healing scene, one particular earth bender had a different reaction

"He's not fried yet? Awww!!" Toph cried.

"But, Uncle, if it was my destiny to be the Avatar, why was it so difficult to achieve? I was nearly thwarted at every turn, and the things I had to do..."

"It is said the Avatar must experience many things - love and loss, pain and happiness - to learn what it is to be human. Only in that way can the Avatar empathize with the human race and do the best job possible in protecting it."

"Wonderful." Zuko ruefully mused. "How can I be the Avatar? I failed everyone! I let a Spirit lead me around by the nose and almost destroyed the whole world!"

"No, nephew. The only way you can fail is if you do not try. And that is not you, Zuko. You always try, no matter how hard!"

"Yes. I've certainly heard that before."

The new Avatar recalled what his mother, Ursa, told him years ago.

_That's who you are, Zuko. Someone who keeps fighting even though it's hard. _

"The way in which you dealt with the issue of the Fire Nation Colonies was very clever! I couldn't have done that. You achieved peace with honor. That is a great accomplishment! You should be proud of yourself!"

"That wasn't my idea. I was only following the advice of those around me."

"Yes, but who picked them? You did!"

"Sure I did. And some of them turned out to be traitors!!"

"You're much too hard on yourself, nephew. Think postive. Everything worked out. Have some tea. It'll make you feel better!"

_Only one person can make me feel better...But she hates me! _Zuko thought.

"Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but it seems the doctors are younger and more attractive than ever! Have you noticed?" Iroh said with a wink.

"Uh, yeah, Uncle, I've noticed. But I kind of think she's already involved with someone."

_Plus, Katara despises me! _

"That's unfortunate. Ah well, there is plenty of wild game roaming the land, and I hear many of them will be at the

Reception!"

_Yeah. Too bad I only have eyes for one. Unless...Uncle forgave me, so maybe..._

"So lost in thought! What are you thinking, nephew?"

"Only that...it's about time we got to that dinner."

"Yes. What are they calling it? The Reception To Honor The Nations And Celebrate Peace? Should be some party! I hear they're serving roast turtle duck! Mmmm! It's been ages since I had a decent meal!"

"Sorry about that."

On the way to the Reception, Fire Lord Zuko saw his Chief of Staff walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey, Shen, aren't you going to the reception?"

"As if I had time! I still have to organize the clean-up crews, make a new budget (the war trashed the old one!), figure out the logistics of how to send the all the supplies you promised the other Nations and, on top of all that, Chef just gave me a rather large requisition for something called 'fishsticks'!" Shen Ming moaned, unaware it was Irma Lair who had placed the unusual order.

"Oh, well, hey, good job! Um, keep up the good work? See ya!"

Before the group reached the reception hall, Iroh took the Air Monk aside to speak to him in private.

"Excuse me, Aang? Could I talk to you?"

"Of course, sir. What's on your mind?

"It concerns the Fire Lord's future."

"Really? Because I was thinking the same thing!"

_Next:_

_A special extra long Epilogue!_

_The Reception_

_(Dance Party)!_

_Why is Irma rocking the house?_

_Find out!_

_Plus:_

_Cornelia dances with Zuko!_

_Wait till Caleb sees that! Uh oh!_

_And:_

_Aang drops a bombshell on Katara!_

_With surprises and guest stars galore!_

_You can't miss it!_


	25. Epilogue 10 The Reception

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 10: The Reception To Honor The Nations And Celebrate Peace, or, Dance Dance Revolution

With a throat-gagging name like that, the Reception was just as much...fun...as you'd expect, with staid, old-fashioned music (they wouldn't dare play the type of music the kids enjoyed in the clubs, or have a cool band like The Flameos).

And with hardly anyone around their age in attendance, there wasn't much Aang, Katara, Toph, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, Hay Lin and Caleb could do about the non-coolness of the event.

Bored, they sat at their table and calmly endured it, all the while acting as if they were really into their meal.

Not that there weren't some...exceptions.

"May I have this dance, milady?" the charming boy with the well-coiffed mane and chiseled chest & biceps asked.

"Who? Me??" the shy Taranee blurted.

"Of course! Who else?? Why, if you dance half as well as you look, we should be the dance champions of the Fire Nation in no time!"

"But..."

"Do it! He's cute!" Cornelia encouraged her friend.

"But what about Nigel?"

"What about him? He's a world away! Like they say, what happens on Avatar's world, stays on Avatar's world!" Irma chuckled.

"Besides, you were going to break up with Nigel anyway!" Corny pointed out.

"Cornelia!" Will admonished her fellow Heatherfieldian's improper comment.

"What? It's the truth!"

"Okay. Sure. Let's dance. I'm, uh...Tara."

"What a lovely name! Pleased to meet you, Tara! I'm Ruon Jian!" said the boy, who didn't recognize Tara the girl, in her unaltered state, as the 'Fire Angel' who gave him his fire bending. Thus, his affection was genuine.

Inspired by the Fire Guardian's example, another one of the girls found the courage to act on her impulse.

"Hey, Aang, want to cut a rug?"

"I don't know, Hay Lin. Won't the Fire Nation get mad if we damage their carpeting?"

"It's an expression! It means 'dance'." Irma helpfully informed the lone Air Nomad.

"Oh! Well, if it's okay with Katara?"

"I don't mind. Have fun!"

"Let's show 'em how air benders dance!" the adventurous Hay Lin suggested.

"Yeah!" the fun-loving Aang eagerly agreed.

The steadily dwindling group was soon visited by another thrill-seeker.

"May I have the honor of this dance?"

"Why not? I always had a thing for older men!"

And that's how Toph ended up dancing with Iroh.

Even the most...unusual...of the young liberators had men come a-courting.

"Ooo-eee! Looky you! You're all woman, and then some! Wanna dance?" one of the Swamp denizens said to Ryoko, she of the sumo wrestler physique and curly blonde wig.

"Hey there, brother Due! I saw her first!"

"You're surely mistaken, brother Tho! Our eyes met across th' room like a coupla swamp bugs!"

"Now, now, men! Look at this exquisite, ample vision of beauty! Surely there's enough for all of us! May we have this dance?" wise philosopher Huu sweetly asked.

"Gakk! I'll never be able to get that image out of my mind!" Irma said, nearly choking on the words, as the massive Ryoko danced with the trio of tribesmen.

"They're still not wearing pants, but at least it's their nicest version of 'not pants'!" Cornelia optimisticaly noted of the three men from the Foggy Swamp.

"I hope my daughter's not too grown-up that she won't dance with her old man?" Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe grinned.

"Of course not, dad!" Katara replied, and joined her father in the reception's dance area. "I'd be happy to dance with you!"

"Looks like everyone's getting down tonight! Will, you've been pretty quiet. Have you thought about hitting the dance floor?" Irma Lair queried.

"Hmm. Maybe later." Will Vandom answered as she drank from a cup of cinnamon cider. "Right now, I'm content to enjoy the show."

"How come you and Caleb aren't out there, Corny?" Irma impolitely asked.

"Caleb, the great war hero and expert at just about everything, says he can't dance!" the Earth Guardian testily replied.

"Two left feet. Sorry!" Caleb shrugged.

"Hey, Cornelia, I just noticed. You went all tall! What's up with that?" the Water Guardian wondered.

"I did? You know, I think I subconsciously do that in public. Because people expect it, what with my rep as the 'Plant Spirit' and all. Wouldn't want to disappoint anyone."

"Oh."

"Plus, that dress looks great wrapped around those long legs of yours!" Caleb smartly complimented his lady love.

"Don't you have the silver tongue!" Cornelia gushed as she leaned over and shared a kiss with her Meridian paramour.

"Ahem."

Cornelia Hale halted her much-desired liplock and turned to see who was interrupting her.

Who would have the _nerve _to bother her now??

Then she saw who it was...

Zuko!

The recently reformed (but still greatly disliked) Fire Lord was met with angry stares from just about everyone still at the table - Cornelia, Irma and Caleb (Will was busy draining another glass of cider) - yet Zuko persisted in being a pest.

"Excuse me..."

"What do _you _want?" Cornelia haughtily replied.

"There's a courtly dance coming up, which means I have to dance with a noblewoman, but I can't find Ty Lee anywhere!" Fire Lord Zuko moaned.

(In another part of the Palace complex, a warehouse to be exact, Shen Ming instructed his helper to check a box of supplies perched on a high shelf. The assistant jumped on the shelf above her, flipped her body 180 degrees around, launched herself onto the next shelf going up, then repeated the moves until she was on the uppermost pallet next to the box Shen was pointing to. The girl told Shen what was in the carton, and he responded "Thanks! I never could have done this without you! I sure was lucky I ran into you, Ty Lee!")

"There's no one else I can ask! Please don't make me dance with the Duchess!" Zuko said with a shudder.

"You think I'm of noble blood??" a pleasantly shocked Cornelia questioned.

"It doesn't matter what I think. It's what they think that's important!" Zuko indicated dignitaries from the other Nations of Water and Earth who were watching the possible dancing couple.

"It's a court dance, so it's mainly twirling around and stuff. No big deal." Zuko explained.

"Caleb, aren't you going to say something? You're my boyfriend! You're supposed to protect me from things like this!" Corny wailed.

"Hey, I have no problem with it! It's just some silly dance!" Caleb grinned, amused by his girlfriend's uncharacteristic pouting.

"Please, Cornelia!" Zuko begged. "It'll make the Fire Nation look bad if its Fire Lord can't fnd anyone to dance with! So don't do it for me, do it for the Fire Nation!"

"Alright." Cornelia threw in the towel. "For the Fire Nation. Not you!"

As Fire Lord Zuko escorted Cornelia Earth Guardian/Plant Spirit to the dance floor, Will absentmindedly commented "Talk about fly on the wall time!" before swigging another shot of cider.

Causing a puzzled Irma and Caleb to both utter "What??"

The Energy Guardian had perceptively picked up on the tension between Zuko and Cornelia. Or maybe Will remembered things she saw or heard during her time in the Spirit World.

Either way, she knew sparks were sure to fly!

"Just follow my lead, and we should be fine." Zuko said as the band began to play.

"I know how to dance!" Cornelia snapped.

"Of course you do. Sorry."

Cornelia thought it was bad enough dancing with the guy, but then he had to go and make it worse.

He had to talk!

As Zuko spun the blonde Guardian around, he said "You know, I am really sorry for all those things I did! I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"Zuko, you tried to burn me to death!"

"Oh, that. Well, in my defense, I knew it wouldn't harm you! And, uh, see, I was right!" he weakly smiled.

"Then you took our powers away and threw us out of a seven-story window!" Cornelia huffily added as she twirled back and forth.

"And I'm really sorry about that! But, once again, I knew you'd make it! You were with that earth bender girl, so I figured she could save you all."

"What was she going to do? Bend the earth from the air? Besides, you took her powers away, too! If it hadn't been for Caleb..." Cornelia ruefully recalled as she dipped low.

"I did?? Oh, man! I'm really, really sorry!! I wasn't, um, quite myself."

Elsewhere on the dance floor, Hakoda danced with his only living child.

"It's great that the war's over and we can go home and be a family again, isn't it?" he said.

"What??" an unpleasantly shocked Katara responded. "I mean, of course it's great! It's wonderful." she added, as she hid her unhappy face from her father.

After returning from a bathroom break, Irma Lair overheard the band's next musical selection, and it spurred her to take action.

"Tara! I need you for an important mission!" Irma said as she elbowed in on Taranee and Ruon Jian. " 'Scuse us, hotstuff!"

"Hay Lin! Can you keep a beat?" Irma asked as she interrupted the Air Guardian's flying dance with the Air Nomad.

"Well, sure, but..."

"Great! Let's go! Sorry, Aang! I'll bring her back later!"

Back on the dance floor, Zuko continued his acts of contrition.

"Cornelia, I'm really sorry for all those awful things I did." Zuko apologetically said as the court dance ended and he and Cornelia bowed to each other. "I know I don't deserve it, but I think it would help both of us to unburden ourselves of these negative feelings. If you could find it in your heart to forgive, I, I think it would really help me with this Avatar thing, and probably you, too. Not that you need to do that. It's just..."

"Stop that!"

"What?"

"Acting like we feel anything for each other! You don't love me, and I certainly don't..."

"Our next song is a slow dance, for all you young lovers out there!" the band leader cheerily announced.

"Ulp!" Cornelia gulped.

Moments later, a familiar beat filled the air.

_Bum Bum Bump_

"What the?" Cornelia uttered. She recognized the sound. But what would it be doing here? They didn't have music like that in the Fire Nation! And it sure as heck wasn't some 'slow dance'!

Corny got her answer when the singer sang.

I saw him dancin there by the record machine

_Bum Bum Bump Bum Bum Bump_

"I don't believe it!" she yelled.

I knew he must have been about 17

_Bum Bum Bump Bum Bum Bump_

"They're playing 'Rock and Roll' " Cornelia squealed and jumped for joy.

"What's that?" a baffled Zuko asked. "Some kind of Earth Kingdom music?"

The beat was going strong

_Bum Bum Bump_  
Playin my favorite song

_Bum Bum Bump_  
I could tell it wouldn't be long till he was with  
Me (yeah me) 

Up on the stage, Irma was singing, with Will and Taranee behind her on backup, and Hay Lin was on drums! Mr. Lair's headstrong daughter had commandeered the stage to spare her friend the ignominy of dancing close with the annoying and confused Fire Lord (which made him even more annoying! It was easy to hate a bad guy. But someone like Zuko, who wasn't sure if he was good or bad? That was a lot harder!) Irma's goal also was to, as she said, 'Get this party started!'

Quickly, Cornelia ran to collect Caleb.

"Let's dance!" she declared.

"But I don't dance!" Caleb protested.

"I'm not asking! Now move your butt onto the dance floor!" Cornelia commanded.

I love rock and roll, so put another dime in the  
Juke box baby

_Bum Bum Bump Bum Bum Bump_

"What's a jukebox?" a member of the crowd asked the woman with him.

"What's a dime?" she responded.

I love rock and roll so come and take the time and  
Dance with me

_Bum Bum Bump Bum Bum Bump_

"Oh, who cares?" the man said. "Let's dance!"

Virtually seduced by the beat, with music she hadn't heard in months, Cornelia let go of her inhibitions and began dancing around the clueless Caleb, who had no idea what was going on or how to act, so he just stood there in the middle of the dance floor while Cornelia used him as a sort of human maypole.

He said, can I take you home?  
Where we can be alone

_Bum Bum Bump Bum Bum Bump_  
And next we're moving on, and he was with me (yeah  
Me)

_Bum Bum Bump Bum Bum Bump_  
We were moving on, and singing that same ol' song  
(yeah with me)

_Bum Bum Bump Bum Bum Bump_  
(singing)  
I love rock and roll

"Thank you! Thank you!" Irma bowed to scattered applause after the song was done.

Many in the crowd loved the performance, but there just as many who were either confused by the tune, or didn't like it at all!

And then there was Cornelia's little 'act', which didn't go unnoticed (not much goes unnoticed when you're the friggin' Plant Spirit!). In fact, Cornelia and Caleb were the very center of attention during the song!

"Dude, you are totally gonna score tonight!" Chan whispered to Caleb.

"What was that, Cornelia?" Jun Yi, Cornelia's Fire Nation friend, curiously asked the natural blonde. "Some sort of fertility dance?"

"Fertility dance? Oh no! What have I done?!" the embarrassed Cornelia cried.

"What's the damage, Corny?" Irma inquired of her distressed companion.

"Some people think I was doing a fertility rite during the rock and roll song!"

"Well, I caught some of what you were doing from the stage, and you were dancing pretty suggestively around Caleb! If you don't watch out, you could invent pole dancing on the Avatar's world!" Irma joked.

"Stop that, Irma! I was not **pole dancing**!!" Cornelia unthinkingly screamed.

"What's pole dancing?" someone in the crowd asked.

"Eeep!" the supremely mortified Cornelia squeaked. Then she ran off.

"Cornelia? Where are you going??" Cal fruitlessly called after his runaway girlfriend.

"Ah, don't worry about her! She's probably just taking a potty break!" Irma dismissed Cornelia's behavior.

"Dude, you know what I said before about you scoring? Forget it!" Chan said.

"Who the heck are you, anyway?" a miffed Caleb replied.

"More! More!" a small group of mostly younger people began chanting.

"Hmmm. What should we do next?" newfound rock star Irma pondered.

"Oh! I know!" an excited Hay Lin exclaimed. "Let's do that Katy Perry song!"

"You mean 'I Kissed A Girl'?"

"Yeah! Remember, back home, whenever that woud play, all the girls would start dancing! Although the guys just stood there and smiled, which is a little weird, but oh well!"

"Hay Lin, don't you know what that song's about??" Irma asked her innocent friend.

"Kissing? I don't know. I don't really listen to all the words."

"I don't think we can play that song. It would probably start a riot!" Will observed.

"Why would a song about kissing cause a riot?" Toph inquired.

Then Will whispered to Toph and Hay Lin exactly who is kissing _who_ in the song.

"Oh my gosh!" a shocked Hay Lin gasped. "And I said how much I liked the song on my blog back home! What if someone reads it??"

"Seriously?" Toph sniggered. "Your world's crazy! But it's probably a lot of fun, too!"

"Irma, this is a pretty mixed crowd, so I think you better go with a safer choice of song material." Will Vandom advised.

"Mixed crowd? Oh, I get it! Like at a wedding!" Irma quickly grasped the situation. "I'm on it, Will!"

"Okay, a one, a two...You put your right foot in, your put your right foot out! You put your right foot in, and shake it all about!" Irma sang and danced. "You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around..."

In the washroom, while missing Irma's debut as a wedding singer, Cornelia struggled to pull herself together.

But she wasn't alone.

"Cornelia? Are you okay? I didn't say anything wrong, did I?" Jun Yi asked.

"I'm okay. And you didn't do anything wrong, Jun." Cornelia confessed. "It's me. Sometimes, I don't know what I'm doing!"

"You mean your boyfriend? But I thought things were all sparky between you and Caleb?" Jun said, speaking in that almost incomprehensible Fire Nation teen slang of hers.

"They were. They are! I mean, I do love him! Or thought I did. Oh, everything is so confusing!" Cornelia sighed.

Back on the dance floor, things took a turn for the worse when Ryoko fell on Tho during a particularly fast number.

"M' okay." Tho feebly said as Huu and Due strained to lift the mountainous Ryoko off of him. "But what a way ta go!"

Returning to their table, Aang re-joined his girlfriend.

"Have fun dancing with Hay Lin?" Katara nicely inquired.

"Yep!" Aang sincerely replied. "But it'd be more fun to dance with you!"

The idea hit the water bender like a 100 foot high wave!

"You're right, Aang!" Katara declared. "I've been letting myself get distracted and depressed by the past!" she added, as she stole a brief glance at the hated Fire Lord. "But we've got a future to think about! A future where the world's at peace, and we're together. We should celebrate it!" she said, as she looked into his eyes.

Katara took Aang's hand and walked with him to the dance floor.

"That's just what I was thinking, Katara!" Aang cheered.

"Plus, Irma's doing a slow song now. There's no way I could keep up with that other crazy music she sings like you and Hay Lin can!" Katara laughed, and wrapped her arms around the bald, tattooed air bender she loved.

"Thank you, thank you very much!" Irma said after her impromptu concert, imitating the King. "Karaoke - you may not get it, but your descendants are gonna love it!" she cracked.

The applause this time was far greater than before. Irma had won the crowd over!

"Wow, Tara! You're an excellent dancer! The best I've ever seen!" an admiring Ruon Jian told dance prodigy Taranee Cook. "How would you like to..."

Suddenly, security burst onto the scene!

"Isn't that the son of that traitor, Admiral Chan?" a guard yelled and pointed to the fugitive teen. "Get him!"

"Ruon Jian! Help!" Chan screamed like a little girl and ran as fast as his feet would move him.

"Whoops! Gotta go!" Ruon Jian gave the brush-off to Tara and sped away to help his buddy, Chan.

"You did **WHAT??**" Katara screamed, in a voice probably heard all the way back in the Earth Kingdom!

"But, but, Katara..." Aang punily muttered.

"Don't 'but' me, mister!" a very angry Katara yelled. "How could you agree to do something like that?? How could you want to help him?" she said, pointing to the Fire Lord. "After all he's done?!"

"But, Katara, I'm the only air bender left! Who else is going to train the new Avatar? And Toph thinks it's a good idea!"

"It doesn't matter! We were supposed to be building a life together! You can't go and decide what we're going to do all by yourself!"

"Katara, if you would just listen! Zuko's changed! He..."

"No, Aang! We should have discussed this before you made your mind up! It's too late now!"

Katara turned on the Air Monk and began to walk away, but Aang chased after her.

"Please, Katara! I didn't mean to upset you! I thought you'd understand..."

"Leave me alone!" the water bender barked. Katara pushed the lone Air Nomad away with a whip of water bent from her sack that she wrapped around his chest, and then stormed out of the reception!

"Oh no! What have I done??" Aang cried.

His friends soon gathered around him.

"Aang? What's the matter? What happened to Katara??" Hay Lin inquired.

"I messed everything up!" Aang wailed.

"Give her time, young air bender." Iroh wisely counseled. "Her pain is great. She needs time to achieve the peace she so desperately needs."

"Wow. First fight, huh?" Irma wryly commented.

But all she received in response were angry glares from the others.

"Okay. Not my best material."

Suddenly, the heroes of two worlds were beset by another unexpected intrusion.

"Cornelia. Taranee. I just wanted to thank you and your friends for the wonderful party! I've never had so much fun! The 'Hokey Pokey'! My word! What a joyous feeling!" said the appreciative woman, the Education Minister in Zuko's cabinet.

"You're welcome, Xue Lao!" Cornelia replied with a quick smile. "That Irma, she realy knows how to throw a shindig!"

"We're glad you enjoyed it!" Taranee added.

"Oh, and thank you for introducing me to Chu Fen." she whispered to the two girls. "He's ideal!"

"No problem!"

"It was our pleasure!"

As Chu Fen escorted his companion, Xue Lao, out of the reception for a private rendezvous, he turned and gave Caleb the thumbs up sign.

"At least someone's getting lucky tonight!"

"What's that, Caleb?"

"Nothing."

_Next:_

_More of the Reception._

_And more secret revelations!_

_The war may be over, but the drama with Zuko, Cornelia, Caleb and Mai isn't!_

_Plus, even more guest stars!_

Notes / Comments

Minister Xue Lao first appeared in Chapter 7 and will make another appearance in the upcoming companion piece "Cornelia and Taranee's Adventures in the Fire Nation 1: Matchmakers".

That story is more of a comedy, with some drama, much as these epilogues are.

The Flameos is the band Aang had play at his secret dance party in Episode 302, The Headband.

And here's an extra epilogue.

Epilogue Extra: Iroh & Irma

Irma dug into the festive party food, but when Aang looked her way she avoided meeting his gaze.

"I do not mean to pry, but I could not help noticing. Is there a problem between you and the air bender?" said Iroh, who sat nearby while his 'date' for the night, Toph, took care of business.

"It's okay. I just feel...a little guilty. There was a moment when I could have stopped Zuko, but didn't. Heck, he was practically _begging_ for a fight, but my friends were in trouble, so I couldn't shove it back in his face!"

"It sounds to me as if you did the correct thing."

"Yeah, but it turns out my friends weren't in any real danger. It was just Zuko messing with me! I should have shown that so and so who he was screwing with!" Irma said, punching her fist into her palm. Then she added, emotionally deflated "At least, then, Aang would still be the Avatar."

"Noble thoughts...all. But you said Zuko was goading you into a fight?"

"Yeah. So?"

"So consider this. My nephew, while terribly confused at times, still retains some measure of honor. If you attacked Zuko, it would have given him the opening he needed to respond in kind, to meet force with an equal amount of force."

"You mean...If I had tried to...He would have...And he had that 'power take away thing' going at the time! Omigosh! It was all a trap!"

"Thank you, sir!" Irma hugged Iroh.

"Any time, my dear. Any time."


	26. Epilogue 11 Zuko and Mai

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 11: Zuko and Mai, or, Oops I Did It Again

"You know, Uncle, I've been thinking..." Fire Lord Zuko said to the person in all the world he was closest to.

As the reception wound down, some of the participants grew more thoughtful.

Maybe it was the fire ale talking.

Maybe it wasn't.

"Uh oh! Call out the army! Ha! Joking! What's on your mind, nephew?" a jolly, partied-up Iroh replied.

"It's about Mai. We didn't...part...on amicable terms, and I've been thinking, maybe I should do something to change that. Like, right now!

"I don't think a midnight visit to a former girlfriend is the wisest course of action, Zuko." a much more sober Iroh advised. "A woman must be wooed, not..."

"Fire Lord Zuko, sir!" the new Captain of the Guard announced, interrupting the conversation. "The traitors got away, but we did catch this ruffian stealing food!" he said as he presented a bound & shackled young woman to the Fire Nation ruler.

"And I would have gotten away with it, too, if that human jumping bean hadn't hit my arms, making them useless! All I needed was another second to gum the doorknob and open the door..." the petite girl said.

"What? No no no. That's An Sui! She's one of the 'heroes of the war' who fought Zindao and his traitors! You're going to have to let her go!" Zuko ordered the Captain. Then he looked at An Sui and said "You do know the food was free, don't you?"

"So? I do what I want!"

One moment An Sui the prisoner, with two beefy guardsmen flanking her, stood impotently before the Fire Lord. The next, she had his crown in her mouth.

"What the?? Give me that!" an annoyed Zuko yelled as he swiped his royal headpiece out of the brazen teen's mouth. "Get her out of here!"

"That crown's mine, Lordie boy! Mine, you hear me!" An Sui crazily hollered, and then laughed, as the guards dragged her out of the reception hall.

_As if Azula wasn't bad enough!_ Zuko thought as he cleaned the delinquent's spit off of his crown and returned it to its place of prominence atop his head.

Meanwhile, most of the GAang had left the party.

Taranee, bummed that her 'date' for the night, Ruon Jian, had taken off on her, retired early.

Their energetic dancing having tired them out, a sleepy Aang and Hay Lin both called it a night and went to bed (separately, of course).

Toph amused herself for a while playing 'spot the liar', utilizing her ability to sense changes in the vibrations of heartbeats to tell if someone was truthful or not, but grew tired of that parlor game when one of the participants insisted he did own the estates and ships he falsely told his companion he possessed in order to impress her. Toph remembered why she didn't like high society parties and bowed out.

While Will was still physically at the party, mentally she seemed to be somewhere else, and spent most of her time at their table trying different Fire Nation drinks (but at least she didn't guzzle any Fire Ale, thank God!)

"Mmm! Fruity!" she said after she sampled one of Chef's newfangled smoothies (he got the idea for it from Cornelia).

The Earth Guardian, popularly known as the 'Plant Spirit' on the Avatar's world, and whose appeal was multi-National, endured a steady stream of visitors who were dying for some face time with the unusual bender. But at least Irma decided to stick around to keep her company.

"Plant Spirit! Hello! I am Pai Gow! We've tried everything to grow our crops in the Earth Kingdom, and I heard of all the success you had in the village of Park Wei, not to mention the Fire Nation!" the official enthusiastically said upon meeting Cornelia and shaking her hand.

"Crops. Agriculture. Yeahhh..." Cornelia dispassionately mumbled. While she could make plants grow anywhere, she was no botanist, and therefore had little to offer in the way of advice.

Then she spied a possible savior.

"Sen Po? Minister Sen Po! Excuse me, could you come over here?"

"Thanks! This nice gentleman has some questions about agriculture, and I was telling him how it was your policies that rejuvenated the farmland in the Fire Nation!"

"You? But I thought it was the Plant Spirit who was responsible for the dramatic increase in Fire Nation crop yields?" Pai Gow asked.

"Oh no!" Sen Po corrected the Earth Kingdom official. "Sure, the Plant Spirit has been of some...limited help, but the recent success of Fire Nation agriculture has been due to the reforms I instiuted!" he bragged.

"Really? You must tell me more!"

"Of course! First of all, you must..."

"Hold on! Let me find a quill and a parchment!"

"Phew! I've never been so happy to see a windbag politician in my life!" Cornelia exclaimed, then blew a few wispy strands of golden hair off of her face.

"Geez! Everybody wants something from you!" Irma commented.

"That's okay. I don't mind. As long as it isn't too nuts! One time, a woman asked me to bless her pregnant belly! Oh wait. You were there for that one."

Yeah. I remember that. Corny, I've been wondering..." Irma began.

But Cornelia Hale wasn't listening. Instead, she was watching her boyfriend.

"Sorry, Master Piandao. I'd love to discuss more swordfighting techniques with you, but my girlfriend will get upset if I ignore her too long."

"Caleb is so sweet."

"Yeah, he is. Hey, Corny, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Did you become friends with Zuko? "

"Why do you ask that?" Cornelia bristled at the question.

"You act like you don't like him, but then you stuck up for the guy a lot, too."

"Irma, I may have had to ACT friendly around Zuko for a few months, but we're not friends! Okay?"

"Oh. Sure. Makes sense."

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Okay."

_Silence_

"What are you thinking?" a curious Cornelia inquired.

"Nothing." Irma innocently answered, a weak smile playing around the contours of her mouth.

Just then, the Fire Lord's number one aide and Chief of Staff, Shen Ming, plopped himself down at the GAang's table.

"What a day! I had to work late, and then when I finally get to the party, my date is gone! She probably got tired of waiting!" he whined.

"Sounds rough." Will said as she guzzled another of Chef's special non-alcoholic Fire Nation fizzy drink concoctions (what we would call 'carbonated').

"Plus, Ty Lee disappeared." Shen muttered under his breath. Then he turned to the solo Energy Guardian and asked "So, uh...Do you want to dance?"

Will looked at her glass. At ALL of her glasses. They were empty.

"Might as well."

"You're with Cornelia and Taranee, aren't you?" the quick-witted Shen surmised. "You've got that same look about you!"

"Otherworldly?"

"What? No! Well, yes, but not in a bad way! Um, you wouldn't mind telling me about this other world you come from, would you?" the high-ranking Fire Nation official who trained as an engineer, and who was Zuko's oldest friend, wondered as he escorted his new-found dance partner onto the floor.

"Hey, why not?" Will emotionlessly responded. "Burrrrrpppp! 'Scuse me."

"I have to go, Uncle. There's something I have to do." Zuko said as he exited the reception.

"Nephew, do not get your hopes up unnecessarily."

"Whatever happened to thinking positive?"

_Uncle doesn't think it's a great idea. But he forgave me, so maybe Mai will. At the very least, I have to try!_

Moments before, Cornelia and Irma were hanging out by the Reception food table, snacking on exotic Fire Nation foodstuffs when one of Aang's Earth Kingdom allies came by.

"Cornelia, this is Haru. He's an earth bender." Irma introduced the two to each other. "He and his father helped us with the invasion. Haru, this is…"

"The legendary Plant Spirit! Many tales are told of your vast power, but none mentions your power pales before your great beauty!" Haru said with a devilish smile.

"Oh, isn't he a charmer! Irma, why didn't you warn me?"

"He never acts like that when I'm around!" Irma fumed.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, milady!" Haru gallantly said, then leaned over and kissed Cornelia's hand. "I do hope the Plant Spirit won't confine herself to the Fire Nation and will visit the Earth Kingdom occasionally."

"Oh, uh, well, sure, I'll try to pop in! Um, I don't mean 'pop in' like a plant, I mean, an actual visit, like on a vehicle...But not to see only one person! Not that it'd be an official type 'state' visit, either, errrr…" the flustered Cornelia stammered before the dashing earth bender.

"You'll have to make an appointment with the Plant Spirit's social secretary! She's kind of busy at the moment!" Caleb jumped in from across the room, his voice one of controlled, simmering threat.

"Ah, sure, Caleb. Sorry. N, nice meeting you!" Haru weakly waved goodbye.

"What do you think you're doing? We were just talking!" Cornelia railed at her boyfriend.

"Relax! I wanted to give Haru a hard time! Did you see the look on his face? Talk about funny!" Caleb smiled. "And you...I can't leave you alone for a second, can I?"

"What's that supposed to mean??"

"It's a joke! See, I'm laughing because it's funny! Cornelia!!"

But Miss Hale was having none of Caleb's games and telekinetically pushed him across the floor.

"Ignore him. Huh. Zuko's leaving pretty early. Well, early for the host."

"So?"

"I wonder where he's going?"

"Who cares?"

"He's always being sneaky and hiding things. Let's follow him and see what he's doing!"

Alone, Zuko made his way down the late night street outside of the Palace to a house in the government sector. He looked around, saw no one, and walked up to the door.

"Look! He's paying a visit to his old girlfriend!" Cornelia said to Irma from their hiding place.

"Again, so what??" Irma was growing annoyed with Cornelia's unhealthy obsession with the teen Fire Lord.

"So he broke up with her! I heard it was pretty brutal! He's probably going to apologize."

"Oh, this I've got to see!" At the prospect of witnessing Zuko get his just desserts, Irma's mood changed. "Let's get closer so we can hear what they're saying!"

"You mean eavesdrop? Irma, what you're suggesting is immature, a waste of time better spent doing far more useful things and totally violates their privacy!"

"So you don't want to do it??"

"Of course I do! It'll be hilarious!"

Zuko knocked on the door. After what seemed an eternity, but was only a couple of minutes, the door opened. A few apologetic words were followed by even fewer sharp words, and then...

**SLAP!!**

**SLAMMM!!!**

"Did you see that?" an excited Irma whispered as loud as she could so Zuko wouldn't hear her. "Wham! Right in the kisser! That was so great!!"

Depressed by all he had been through, how it all had gone wrong, Zuko sat on the curb and sulked.

Around the corner and out of sight nearby, a still-hungry Cornelia reached into her bag and pulled out a firecake.

"Eating again? You've got quite the appetite, Corny! Better watch that!" Irma joked.

"It's my metabolism. Ever since this whole 'Plant Spirit' thing, it's been skyhigh!"

"Aren't you worried you'll put on weight?"

"No. If I do, I can always turn into a plant or rock, then turn back and I'm my old, thin self again."

"I hate you. I really, really do."

"Cornelia? What are you doing out here?" a puzzled Caleb asked. He had followed the Guardian duo and wondered what was going on.

"Shhh! Zuko just got nailed by his old girlfriend, and I think he's crying!" a happy, gossipy Irma alerted Cal to the situation.

Zuko was then joined by Iroh, who placed a sympathetic hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Have patience, Fire Lord Zuko. It will take more to earn her love, but I am confident you can do it."

"I deserve that. Especially after I tricked Cornelia into falling in love with me with that kiss so I could pay my debt to Koh!"

At this overheard, stunning admission, Cornelia spewed her food!

Then she turned to look at her best friend and lover to get their reaction.

Hearts wounded, Irma and Caleb could only stare at Cornelia in mute horror.

_Next:_

_Do Cornelia & Caleb break up?_

_Plus, Will & Shen? What's going on there??_

Notes / Comments

Park Wei is the name of the place Cornelia had her adventure with Jet in the now-classic Chapter 14 of _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_.

Ty Lee's become a sort of wandering hero, or _ronin. _Although not all of her 'missions' are heroic, such as her helping out Shen in the warehouse. And she really really _really _loved putting to the screws to that Azula wannabe, An Sui!

I tried to think up something for Suki to do, but nothing presented itself. She's so tied in with Sokka, except he's dead, and to the Earth Kingdom/Kyoshi Island, except most everything takes place in the Fire Nation, that there's nothing left for her to do. I didn't need anymore girls in the story (there's plenty). I didn't need anymore fighters. Maybe she can encounter the villains in Season 4?

Will's near-constant eating/drinking is her way of expressing her physicality/corporeality, since she was a bodiless energy being for months. She likes having a physical body, but maybe is overdoing it.


	27. Epilogue 12 Cornelia and Caleb

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 12: Cornelia and Caleb

"W-- Cor----a? How co--- --u?!"

The next morning was bright and sunny, with lots of shouty words one had to struggle to hear through thick oak doors.

Toph, Taranee and Hay Lin stood outside Cornelia's bedroom, trying to figure out what was going on between her and Caleb.

Then Irma entered the scene.

"Hey guys! What's up?" she asked.

"The two lovebirds are having a spat!" Taranee replied.

"I can't believe you guys are eavesdropping on a private conversation!" Irma yelped in mock indignation.

"What? No! Ah, Tara lost some of her beads, and we were just looking for them." Toph lied.

"If you're going to do that, use the expert! Hay Lin, if you use your air powers, you should be able to listen in real easy!" Irma grinned.

Caleb was in no mood to listen to Cornelia's claims of innocence last night, and left rather than do something he might regret later.

Now, inside the room which they thought was private, he wanted answers.

"When Zuko mentioned that during our swordfight, I thought he was making it up! When were you going to tell me, Cornelia? When were you going to tell me you kissed Zuko?!"

"Hello! We were in the middle of a major battle to decide the fate of the world! And I only kissed Zuko so he'd confide in me! I knew he was up to something! Maybe it didn't work out the way I wanted, but it was a good plan!"

"Okay, that sounds plausible, but answer me one question..."

"What?"

"Did you enjoy it?"

"How dare you?!!"

"If you think what we shared didn't mean anything, that it can be tossed aside so easily, then you can get lost, Caleb! I never want to see you again!!"

**CRASH!!**

When Caleb finally emerged from his 'ordeal', he looked like he'd been in a fight. His hair was mussed. His clothes were rumpled. His posture was definitely...askew.

"Are you okay?" Taranee asked.

But Caleb didn't act like anything was wrong.

"She's crazy about me!" he said with a huge smile plastered to his face.

"Ah! The joys of true love!" Irma quipped.

"Gosh! I hope Eric and I never love each other THAT much!" Hay Lin commented.

"Where's Will?" Irma inquired.

"I haven't seen her. I guess she's still in her room." the Air Guardian answered.

The Water Guardian approached the door of her leader and knocked.

There was no response, and the knock pushed the door open, so Irma said "Will?"

Then Irma Lair heard two voices - Will and someone else!

"Will? Is everything alright?!" Irma inquired in a much louder, concerned tone.

Then a young man rushed past Irma!

"Ah, excuse me. Have to take care of important Fire Nation business!" Shen Ming said as he slinked away.

"Will Vandom! I don't believe you! You had a boy in your room...all night?" an incredulous Irma Lair uttered words she never thought she'd have to say about the most stable member of the team.

"It's not what you think. We were talking. What? He had a lot of questions!" Will, still dressed in her party clothes, defended herself.

"Oh, well, sure. If you say so."

The commotion attracted Hay Lin, Taranee and Cornelia (who was not at all surprised to find her fellow Guardians hovering outside her room). Their confusion matched Irma's.

"Do you think I'm lying? Does anyone here think I'm a liar?" Will challenged her teammates.

"No. No! Of course not, Will!" Taranee declared.

"Good."

"It seems...a little strange, you know?"

"These are strange times, Hay Lin. And now, I think it's time we ditched the drama and got to breakfast. Big day today." the Guardian leader instructed as she walked off.

"Is it me, or has Will been acting real...distant...ever since she came back?" Irma wondered.

"She's just out of sorts! She'll be fine once we get back to our Earth!" Cornelia, wishing only to look on the bright side after her own drama (two dramas being too much), cheerily replied.

_Next:_

_The Fire Lord and The Avatar._

_What does the GAang do about Zuko?_

_Plus: Katara makes her decision!_

Notes / Comments

Shen was too scared of Cornelia and Taranee to ask them a lot of questions about their world.

Cornelia and Caleb could have only had a fight. Or they could have had a fight, and then made up. I leave it up in the air.


	28. Epilogue 13 The Fire Lord and The Avatar

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 13: The Fire Lord and The Avatar

"What do we do about Zuko? He won't be Fire Lord for long, after the people find out what he did!" Will threw out the question of the day.

After breakfast, the heroes of two worlds conferenced.

"Ah, who cares? Let 'em string the guy up! He deserves it!" Irma responded from the gut.

"You're probably right. But what happens to the country when it loses its leader? We have a responsibility to help the Fire Nation so they don't repeat the mistakes of the past." Taranee advised.

"We could let Corny run the place for awhile! They all love her, right?" Irma suggested.

"It's not that simple! Many people do like me, but many don't! I'm still an outsider to them!" Cornelia Hale informed her friends.

"Oh, yeah. Those 'Third Way' guys!" Hay Lin added.

"So we need someone they know and trust." Will voiced the consensus opinion. Then she turned to the present Fire Lord, who was miffed to be talked about in such a degrading manner, but knew he couldn't complain, as he did deserve it. "Any thoughts, Zuko?"

"I don't know." Zuko sighed. "Any suggestions, Shen?"

"Well, sire, there are a number of candidates..." the Fire Lord's chief aide began.

But as they moved down the list, all proved deficient in some way.

"...The Duchess Dowager? No. She'd love to rule, but cares nothing for the people!"

"...Minister Sen Po? Hmmm. He's pretty smart. But no one can stand him! If he was Fire Lord, there'd be a coup in a week!"

"Now what? I can't be both Fire Lord AND Avatar! Uncle..." Zuko whined.

"Don't look at me! I'm retired!"

"Sorry. Reflex."

"If I may make a suggestion, sire?"

"Sure, Shen. Go ahead."

"It's an idea Lady Taranee suggested."

"_Lady _Taranee??" Irma said, with raised eyebrow.

"What? Like Cornelia's the only one who can be royalty??"

"Not saying another word!" Irma wisely zipped her lip.

"Perhaps we can put it to a vote? Hold elections?"

"About that? Ummm... " It was an idea Zuko had ridiculed when Irma said it during the eclipse, so the disgraced Fire Lord didn't know what to tell his friend. Change was one thing, but elections would be revolutionary, especially for such a tradition-bound country like the Fire Nation.

Then there was a commotion at the door, causing the sentry to raise his voice and issue threats.

But the pleading voice on the other side spurred Chief of Staff Shen Ming to take action. "Just a moment, your majesty."

"Excuse me, guard? I'll handle this. Yes? I see. Uh-huh. Go see the Admiral's staff at the Fire Base first thing in the morning. I'll tell them to expect you. You're welcome. I'm sorry for your loss."

"What was that about?" Zuko asked his assistant.

"That woman's husband was lost at sea, and she couldn't get any official declaration of his death or even a funeral, so I said I'd take care of it."

"Oh. Well, moving on..."

"No need. Zuko, schedule your abdication for tomorrow. We have our candidate!" Will smiled.

"That leaves only one matter to be decided: Should Zuko remain the Avatar?" Aang asked.

"Yeah! If hothead could take Aang's power, can't he give it back?" Toph wanted to know.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Iroh spoke up. "My nephew could only have taken on the mantle of the Avatar if he was worthy. And once one is judged unworthy..." he added, gazing at Aang as he said it, "...It cannot be given back." Aang hung his head in shame.

"But I'm not worthy, Uncle! Take the Avatar from me! Please!" a desperate Zuko begged.

"No, nephew! The position of Avatar is now your responsibility, and you must bear the burden! But take heart. A burden may be shared, after all."

"You mean with Toph and me." Aang inquired.

"Yes."

"I understand, sir." the last air bender dutifully replied. "I only wish everyone did."

Just then, a remorseful Katara entered the conference room.

"Aang? I'm sorry for how I reacted to your news..."

"That's okay, Katara. You were right. I should have discussed it with you in private beforehand."

"...And what you said does make a lot of sense. The new Avatar will need good bending teachers..."

"Really? That's great, Katara! I'm glad you agreed to help us!!"

Katara looked down.

"...But I can't do that, Aang. It's...too painful." Katara cast an eye toward Zuko. "I've decided to go back to the South Pole with my father. I'm sorry."

"But...Katara...I thought we'd be together..."

Toph laid a comforting hand on the Air Nomad's shoulder as Katara left not only the meeting room, but his life.

"Don't worry about it." Zuko said. Katara's earlier accusation echoed in the mind of the unprecedented Avatar, who had so very many mistakes to atone for. _You're a thief! _she had screamed at him on the Plains of Agni. "It's probably for the best. We'll find another water bending master."

_Next:_

_Zuko and Ozai!_

_Find out what happened on the night Ursa, Zuko's mom, and Fire Lord Azalon were last seen alive!_

_Plus more surprises (including Ozai's fate!), in Epilogue 14: The Last Act of Fire Lord Zuko_

Notes / Comments

Zuko can't give the Avatar power back to Aang. Once relinquished, it can't be re-claimed. Zuko could give it to someone else, but only after he had mastered all four elements. Except, who would he give it to? Who else would be worthy of such power? Plus, the comet super-charged Aang & Zuko, which made the transfer a lot easier. Basically, they can't duplicate the conditions under which the Avatar transfer occurred, or reverse it.


	29. Epilogue 14 Zuko and Ozai

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 14: The Last Act of Fire Lord Zuko (Zuko and Ozai)

_After Ozai was incarcerated, a curious fact was discovered. _

_Although his comet-derived fire might was gone, dissipated through use and time, prolonged exposure to the weird energies in Zuko's celestial machine, the mix of the essence of the Heart of Candracar and the comet's super-solar flares, had wrought changes in the former Fire Lord's physiology. He was now extremely sensitive to sunlight._

_Something his guards had learned after they left an outer door open and a thin ray of light streamed into Ozai's cell._

_The resulting explosion dropped a wall on Ozai, knocking him out, or else he would have escaped._

_The dread Lord of Fire had become a solar collector. _

_A veritable sunlight sponge._

_Therefore, Fire Lord Zuko decreed he be kept in the dark at all times._

ooooooooooooooo

"What happened to Mom?"

On his only visit to see his father, the last day of his Fire Lordship before his abdication, Zuko was direct and to the point.

"You really wish to know? I will tell you, for the knowledge will burden your soul even more."

In the darkness of the jail cell that now defined his life, Ozai wove a tale of ambition, betrayal, honor and loss.

"Fire Lord Azulon had decreed I was to suffer the same loss as Iroh - the death of his first born - in order to become the next Fire Lord. Which I had little problem with..." Ozai smiled wickedly.

"But your mother could not bear the thought! I don't know how she found out, but she did. I told her she had to confront father and convince him to change his mind. Which I knew would not work. The man was stubborn as a horde of mule-ox! If talk failed, I informed Ursa there was only one way to protect you and ensure my ascension to the throne. I gave her a knife and promised to banish her if she did the deed."

"But your weak-willed sow couldn't go through with it! She begged father to take her life instead of yours! Watching from hiding, I became so enraged, I killed Azulon myself! Then I smeared his blood on Ursa and told her she had to take the blame or I could not become Fire Lord. If she did, I declared you would be safe."

"So you did banish her?"

"Yes. I sent a trusted aide with Ursa to watch over her, and make sure she did not spread any tales."

"So Mom could still be alive??"

Ozai grinned even more evilly.

"But even with all that, I could not trust events to work out in my favor. Replacing Iroh in the line of succession, combined with Azulon's death, was certain to set tongues to wagging. I could not afford any dissent, or challenge to my rule. Therefore, I provided two sets of food supplies to my aide. One, I told him, was laced with a slow-acting poison. The other wasn't."

"So you killed Mom?!!"

"Except...All of the food was poisoned! That was your sister's idea. Azula always had such...talents, wouldn't you agree, my son?" Ozai cackled. "And since I haven't heard from either one in years, both must be dead!"

_Mom could still be alive?? _Zuko hung on the very slimmest of hopes.

"What happened to you?" Zuko said, unable to understand his father's actions. "Our family used to be so happy! We would go to Ember Island and actually enjoy ourselves! Surely you remember that! What happened to turn you into such a monster??!"

"You should ask your Uncle Iroh that one!" Ozai teased.

"Oh no! You don't get to blame Iroh for your vile acts!"

"It was he who shamed us all at Ba Sing Se!" Ozai raged.

"Stop it! Iroh was upset at the loss of his son, as any _normal _human being would be! He's a decent person, unlike you!"

"I had to grow up, my son...As you also did." Ozai smirked, and stared right into Zuko's tired golden eyes.

The son of Ozai and Ursa turned away.

"No! I'm nothing like you!!"

"As you say, my Fire Lord." Ozai cackled. "As you say."

"Just one golden ray of sunshine, one single drop of sunlight, and I'll be out of this prison!" Ozai threatened. "Then I'm coming for you, Fire Lord! Or is it 'Avatar' now? If you were smart, you'd kill me! But you won't, will you?"

"I lost my wife because of you, you sniveling weakling!"

"You're dead, Zuko! You hear me? Dead!!" the insane former Fire Lord screamed at the Avatar as he exited the prison and entered the sunlight.

"Heh. One little drop..."

"You did the right thing, Zuko." Aang said. "You showed mercy. The Monks taught me..."

"Yeah yeah yeah. I get it! But that's air bender preschool, and I live in the real world! In the real world, my dad hates me, and if he ever escapes his prison, he'll hunt me down and kill me! So I hope I don't regret this."

_Next:_

_Fire Lord Shen Ming_

_However, things don't go so smoothly when Shen's girlfriend__s__ (plural, more than one) show up!_

_Whoops!_

_Plus: A long-awaited appearance by Azula!_

Notes / Comments

If Ursa is still alive, the poison she took would have robbed her of her memory.

This reveals Azula was more involved in the events of that night than was previously known, and explains why she thinks she's such a monster. Azula is responsible for her mother's fate.


	30. Epilogue 15 The New Fire Lord

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 15: The New Fire Lord (Shen Ming)

"My people...I'm glad you are here today, on this momentous occasion...As some of you know, I, Fire Lord Zuko, am the new Avatar...

In the royal plaza next to the Fire Lord's Palace, the assembled crowd cheered themselves hoarse.

"But due to the responsibilities of such an all-encompassing role, I am unable to continue as your Fire Lord..."

The people were much more subdued in their reaction to this news. They all wondered what this meant for the future of the Fire Nation. The war was over, and now they were losing the leader they had all their hopes pinned on?

"However, before my successor is named, there are few things I'd like to say..."

"Hold on! That wasn't in the script!" Taranee said, as she perused the copy of the speech Zuko was supposed to give.

"What do you think he'll say?" Hay Lin asked.

"I hope it contains the phrase 'free food'!" Irma joked.

"I don't care what Zuko says as long as he doesn't mention the Guardians." Will commented. "The people can't get used to us or start relying on us, since we're leaving soon."

Zuko went on to announce the new peace treaty between the nations, and publicly thanked many people, such as generals and businessmen who worked with him as Fire Lord, plus his Uncle Iroh, who took a bow, and then...

_Sob sob_

"What? Ryoko? What's the matter?" Cornelia asked her despondent friend.

"Huu, Due and Tho said they're leaving! Going back to the Swamp! Bawwllll!"

"There there. It'll be alright. I'm sure you'll...find someone else. Or someones."

"...Finally, even though they told me not to, there is one group it would be a huge mistake to omit. And I've made far too many mistakes already!" the Fire Lord continued his impromptu speech.

"Zuko!" Will slapped her forehead, because she knew what was coming.

"Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin, the Guardians of Candracar! Without them, none of our successes would be possible! Guardians, please stand up and take a bow!"

The Guardians stood and waved to the crowd, who showered them with affection and applause.

"Ah, who cares if we're leaving? We should bask in it while we can! We can probably use it to get free stuff!" Irma Lair chortled.

But others overheard what Irma said.

"Is that true, Cornelia-san?" Ren, one of the children Cornelia met during her stay in the Fire Nation, asked. "Are you leaving us?"

Beside the young girl stood the other two kids Cornelia had entertained with bending demostrations and multi-cultural activities, Guang and Hoshi. They all looked at the Earth Guardian with sad eyes.

"I..."

"...Now we come to the important part of the speech..." Zuko announced, then paused to take a deep breath. "...My abdication."

In a tower overlooking the plaza, an occupant of a very special guarded room became quite excited.

"Get me closer, fool! Closer! I have to see my idiot of a brother lose his crown!" Azula barked at her personal assistant. Though badly banged up and wearing casts on nearly every bone of her broken body, the former royal retained her faculties, not to mention her hate, and was ensconced for the moment in a new gift of mobility she was of course totally ungrateful for.

"One moment, Princess." her aide replied. "This wheeled vehicle we received from the Earth Kingdom tinkerer seems stuck!"

"Well, unstick it, you moron! I need to see..."

_Click_

"...Zuko loo whoahh!!"

The wheelchair raced forward, hit the wall beneath the window, tipped forward, and spilled Princess Azula into the waiting sky.

"Whoops!" the assistant exclaimed. Then he tip-toed out of the room, hoping no one would find out what he did.

**Ahhhhh!!!**

"And here I thought my heroing days were over!" Aang joked, with just a hint of sarcasm, when he spied the plummeting form.

Quickly, the air bender whipped up a swirling vortex that arrested the girl's fall.

"Toph! I need something to catch her!" Aang instructed.

The master earth bender hit the ground with her foot, and a tower of rock rose high up into the air and caught the flailing, bandaged teen.

"Hey, do you know who that is? It's Azula!" Toph declared, recognizing the vibrations sent through her stony construct.

"It is?" Aang was surprised. Then he changed the conversation. "Good work, Toph!"

"You're not so bad yourself!" Toph Bei Fong replied. "Sweet air bending move!"

The two master benders then returned to their seats to watch Zuko's abdication.

"What are you doing??" Azula screamed helplessly from her lofty perch, from which she was unable to move a muscle. "I can't see the ceremony from this direction! Nooooo!!!!"

Having resigned as Fire Lord, Zuko removed the symbol of his office and handed it to Will Vandom.

"I, the Lightning Spirit (ahem)", said Will, as her entire body crackled with energy, the better to demonstrate her lightningness, "nominate for the role of Fire Lord...Chief of Staff Shen Ming!"

"Who???" some in the crowd gasped. They were unsure of this turn of events, and many questioned the choice.

Will transferred the crown to one of the Fire Sages, who then placed the royal headgear on Shen's skull.

To complete his coronation as Fire Lord, Shen had to light the ceremonial brazier with fire bending. Being a rather poor bender, Shen barely managed to light a spark, but he did succeed at last, and the brazier was lit!

Immediately, the mood of the people changed!

"I know that guy! He saved our land!" one peasant yelled.

"He helped me in my old age." croaked an old man.

"And he helped me get another yaksheep!!" cried Yaksheep Guy.

"Errr, okay!" one of the skeptical Third Way followers said. "I guess he's a good choice. Way better than Ozai or Zuko, anyway!"

"Wow, Shen! The people really like you!" Will reflected the crowd's approval.

"I suppose. But it's a lot of responsibility." Fire Lord Shen Ming humbly said.

"Hey, cutie!"

"Wha?? Oh, hi, Ty Lee!"

"You know, I never noticed how sexy you are!"

"Really??"

"Yeah, you are so hot, Fire Lord, um, what was your name again?"

"You'll have plenty of time to learn that silly fact! Want to see how a Fire Lord does it?"

"Oh yes! Please show me!"

"Later, Zuko!" Shen smiled as he escorted Ty Lee off the stage.

"Yeah. Later. Wow. He doesn't waste any time, does he?" Zuko whistled.

"Did we miss something?" Irma asked her Guardian companion.

"Your guess is as good as mine!" Cornelia replied with a shrug of her shoulders. Though a 'guest' of the Fire Lord for the past few months, Cornelia Hale was unaware of the gossip about Shen's pursuit of Ty Lee, and her near-constant rejection of him.

"What? Shen!! Who's this?!?" a new voice demanded.

"Um, err..." Shen stammered.

"Who the hell are you?!!" Ty Lee angrily challenged the new girl.

"I'm Jun Yi, and I'm the one Shen's dating!"

"Uh, Jun, I can explain. Part of my duties as Fire Lord..."

"Ha! This is good! Let's sit back and watch the show!" Irma laughed.

"Yeah? Well, I'm Ty Lee, and I don't see a ring on any of your fingers!"

"Sure, I thought Shen was a little fizzle at first, but he's a good guy! Anyway, my parents went to a lot of trouble to set this up, so I'm not going to let you mess it up!"

"Typical! Blame it on the 'rents!"

"Ladies, if you could calm down?"

"Ty Lee, huh? I heard about you! Shen, are you interested in a collection? I hear there's six more that look just like her back home!"

"What?? Why, you, dirty, noble-climbing wh..."

"Hey! Don't try your chi-blocking on me, or..."

"Ladies, please!!"

"Shut up!!" they both yelled.

"Wow! This is better than movie night!" Irma said.

"Just as many fights, though!" Cornelia joked.

"Anyone have any popcorn??" the Water Guardian quipped.

To prevent his first day as Fire Lord from being marred with violence, Shen suggested...

"A contest?!?" Jun and Ty Lee screamed in disbelief.

"Yep! And the winner gets to date me!" the former engineer slyly said. "What do you say?"

"And as the Fire Lord's girlfriend, we'd get whatever we want?" Jun asked.

"Sure!"

With visions of possible Fire Ladyhood dancing in her eyes (not to mention preventing that b***h from getting it), Jun said "I'm in!"

To which Ty Lee responded, shooting daggers from her eyes at Jun, "Ditto!"

Soon, the new Fire Lord had the contest set up on the Palace grounds.

"First one across the finish line gets me!"

"A footrace?" Jun grumbled.

"Why not? It doesn't favor either of your strengths, so it's fair!" Shen explained.

The girls were beginning to have second thoughts at this degrading competition, but set themselves at the starting line anyway.

Then the whistle blew, and a sound like a tanktrain echoed across the pavement!

"What the??"

Turning to look at what was making all the noise, Jun Yi and Ty Lee saw a mountain of flesh rolling towards them!

Amazed that something so big could be so fast, they watched as the massive girth of Ryoko ran past them and crossed the finish line!

"Eeee! I win! I win the Fire Lord!!" Ryoko shouted in glee.

"I'm good with that. How about you?" Jun asked Ty.

"Yep! The whole Fire Lord thing is way overrated, anyway! Look at Ozai's kids. Azula and Zuko?? I mean, come on! Their auras are terrible!" Ty Lee replied.

"Good...point? Hey, you want to go hang out? I know this flamin' club!"

"Sounds like fun! Let's go!"

"Hey, did you know your aura is kind of sparkly?"

Meanwhile, Ryoko was busy smothering Shen in kisses.

And basically, though she didn't realize it, kind of plain 'ol smothering him, too.

"What the? Why is this happening?!!" Shen cried.

"You did say the winner gets whatever she wants!" Cornelia pointed out.

"And I'd say this qualifies!" Taranee added.

As Ryoko bore the helpless Shen Ming off to someplace private, the 'humble' Fire Lord pleaded "Cornelia! Taranee! Wait! You can't leave me with...her!"

"Sorry, Shen! You should have thought of that before you put Jun and Ty Lee through that ridiculous contest!"

"I'm sorry! Please!! I'm begging you! Oh, Spirits, no, not the bedroom!!"

"Think he'll be okay?" Tara asked as the bedroom door closed behind the unusual couple.

"Oh, sure! Ryoko wouldn't really hurt him!" Cornelia confidently answered.

_Bomp Bump Bomp Bump_

"The furniture, on the other hand, may not survive!" Corny wryly observed. "Oh, guards? The Fire Lord may need a replacement bed before the night is through. Could one of you take care of that? Thank you!"

_Next:_

_It's Fire Lord Shen Ming's Reconstruction Days as former enemies pitch in to help._

_(Can't we all just...get along?)_

_Right after Shen gets reconstructed, that is! Ouch! That's gotta hurt!_

_Plus: A special 'Inauguration' salute! (hint hint)_

_And...Destruction!_

_Oh my!_

Notes / Comments

Azula received a wheelchair from the Mechanist, just like the one he designed for his son, Teo.


	31. Epilogue 16 Reconstruction Destruction

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

Epilogue 16: Reconstruction/Destruction

"Fire Lord Shen Ming couldn't be here at the opening of his Reconstruction Initiative due to injuries suffered in a fall from...his bed?" Will, who had inexplicably become the spokesperson for the new Fire Lord, announced as she read a news scroll to the people gathered at the public square in Capital City's Central Plaza. Then she cast a disapproving look at Cornelia and Taranee, both of whom avoided her steely gaze and whistled innocently. "His injuries are minor, though, so he should fully recover soon. Therefore, I hereby declare the start of Reconstruction Days!"

All across the city, the Guardians and their allies from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes helped fix the damage done during the past few chaotic days of strife. They extinguished lingering, hard-to-douse, environmentally damaging chemical & coal mine fires, searched and rescued lost loved ones, healed the sick with water bending, and reconstructed ruined buildings and homes with earth bending, The altruistic actions of the former 'invaders' surprised the people of the Fire Nation, and spurred them to join in the effort to reclaim their lives, and thus their Nation.

Not that there weren't a few individuals who, unable to let go of the animosity of the past, exchanged threatening words with those they deemed 'interlopers' in Fire Nation affairs.

However, due to the intervention of a trusted third party, which the Guardians were, tensions were defused and violence prevented.

And none of the Guardians had a greater effect on the people of the Fire Nation than Cornelia Hale and Taranee Cook.

Wherever the 'Plant Spirit' and the 'Fire Angel' went, the citizens of the Fire Lands were respectful.

Moreover, they attended to their every word. Although they did have a tendency to go overboard. Particularly in Cornelia's case.

"Please don't do the 'bowing' thing." Cornelia wearily asked, for what seemed like the umpteenth time. "I, uh, command you!"

"Aren't those the people who supported Zindao and his crazy Third Wayers?" Irma commented, recognizing some of the Fire Nation volunteers as the protesters who burned Zuko in effigy mere days ago. "How'd you convince them to pitch in?"

"They're not doing that because of me. It was Taranee who convinced everyone to work together." Cornelia modestly replied.

_"We have a saying among my people. E Pluribus Unum: Out of many - one." _Tara inspiringly said earlier as she brought the former enemies' hands together in a handshake.

"I couldn't have done it without Cornelia's help!" Taranee repaid the compliment.

"You're too kind. I didn't do a whole lot other than say a few words to some of the residents." Corny added.

"They said it was impossible to heal the wounds from one hundred years of war and work together to restore our country! What do you think? Can we do this, people?" activist teen Jun Yi hollered to the mostly Fire Nation crowd.

"**Yes we can!**" they shouted back.

Surprised at hearing a phrase popular on her homeworld, Irma gave a knowing look at her blonde friend.

"Okay, I may have said more than a _few _things! It's like the man said, Irma. This is the change people have been

looking for!"

"Cornelia Hale, community organizer? Who'd a thunk it? I wonder what your Dad, the banker, would say to that?!" Irma quipped.

Later, Jun Yi tried to patch a wall.

Emphasis on _tried._

"No no! You're doing it all wrong!" a young man assisting in the reconstruction effort criticized. "We'll never finish if you produce shoddy work like that!"

"Hey, isn't that one of those obnoxious Third Wayers?" the Water Guardian, supervising from nearby, exclaimed. "Let's tell him he can't treat one of our friends like that!"

"Wait, Irma!" Cornelia held her impulsive friend back.

"Wait for what?? Oh, yeah! Jun will totally clean that jerk's clock, won't she? This oughtta be entertaining!"

"I'm sorry. How should I do it? Can you…show me?" an unusually calm Jun handed her tool to the grousing guy.

The older teen was a little taken aback, but proceeded to demonstrate the finer points to the high school girl. "…Sure. See, you move the outside corner tool like this."

"Uh huh."

"Oh, snap! I can't believe Jun rolled over for that guy!" Irma declared.

"That's not it at all, Irma! Pay attention to the body language. See how she looks at him?" Cornelia pointed out.

"What? You mean??"

Corny nodded her head. Apparently, Jun Yi had eyes for someone new after her breakup with Fire Lord Shen Ming.

Things were going so well, it was inevitable the next shoe to drop would be a size 18EEEE.

"You wanted to see me, Taranee?"

At the Observatory overlooking Capital City, but pointed toward the stars, the Fire Guardian went over some calculations.

"Yes, Cornelia. I've been studying whatever data I could find on the world's condition. I have good news, and not so good news."

"So, what's the good news?"

"From what I can tell, using the telescope in the Observatory here, the planet's orbit is more elliptical than before. So the world should be safe from Sozin's Comet for a few million years, at least!"

"That's great! Uh, what's the not so good news?"

"This new orbit means the climate will be affected. Summers will be hotter. Winters will be colder. There will be other changes, too. But hey, maybe the Fire Nation will find out how much fun snow can be, huh?" Tara made an uncharacteristic joke. Cornelia knew that was usually a bad sign.

"So their whole world will be affected by climate change?" the Earth Guardian asked for clarification.

"Yes, and we're already seeing some of the changes." the Fire Guardian informed her colleague. "There've been scattered reports of some severe weather - storms, lightning, huge waves - however, without a reliable weather database, it's hard to tell if how unusual it is. But the world will survive."

"Oh. That's good." Cornelia breathed a sigh of relief. "So why ask me to come here?"

"Right! Almost forgot!" Taranee slapped her absent-minded head. "I think there may be an El Nino effect going on here, with the ocean warming due to underwater geologic activity. But there's zip on that in the way of data. I was hoping you might remember anything about the composition of the Earth from your journey through it. Underwater steam vents. Volcanoes. Anything you could tell me would be a big help in forecasting the weather!"

"I'm sorry, Taranee. I don't remember a thing from that experience! It's all a fuzzy blur."

The Fire Guardian paused. The telepathic Fire Guardian!

_What's she doing? _Cornelia thought. _Is she trying to read my mind? Does she not believe me??_

"Taranee?"

"Huh? Sorry. I, ah, spaced out there for a second. That's okay if you can't remember, Cornelia. I can get by with the information I have."

"Oh, and I've noticed another change in the Fire Nation!" Taranee put a comforting arm around her earth friend and smiled. "A nice change! Apparently, there's been an explosion in greenery since the end of the war!"

"Really?" Cornelia replied, trying to maintain her pleasant composure, even as she spied vines creeping through the Observatory's windows and crawling up the wall, which disturbed her for some reason. "The planet is probably just happy the war's over!" she added, beaming a picture perfect (and false) Princess smile.

"I thought it was something like that!" Tara laughed. "Well, it's all good, right?"

"Sure!"

Then Taranee left the room to check on another experiment, leaving Corny alone to ponder the vagaries of fate.

Cornelia looked at the model of the world on display in the Observatory. "Their whole world..." she said under her breath. The Earth Guardian gazed at ithe globe for a long time.

Later that night, a storm raged over the Capital.

Inside the Palace towers, though, where the Guardians and other heroes stayed, it was comfy cozy.

"You know what's odd?" the Energy Guardian casually mentioned to her cohorts. "Even with Taranee or Cornelia assisting, I couldn't do the things with the Heart of Candracar that Zuko did, like give someone fire bending or 'plant bending'!"

"Ya know, there's probably a good reason for that!" Irma sarcastically retorted.

"I suppose. But it makes you wonder..." Will replied.

"They even had to close the Fire Institute!" Taranee added.

"Good! The Fire Nation didn't need any more crazy fire benders, just like we didn't need any more plant benders!" Cornelia commented. "Long Feng and his nutty crew were enough!"

"It's strictly old school as far as bending goes." the Fire Guardian noted.

"Then it sounds like things are finally getting back to normal!" the Water Guardian cheered. "Um, where's Hay Lin?" Irma said as she looked around the room.

"She went with Aang to the southern port to load supplies onto the reparation ships going to the Earth Kingdom." Toph informed the others.

"Geez, I hope they didn't get caught in this mess!" Irma replied.

Just then...

**KRAKA BOOOM**

"Wow, that thunder sure is close!!" Irma yelled. "My teeth are still rattling!"

"Uh, Will? What are you doing by the window?" Taranee anxiously wondered. "That storm's pretty bad, and you don't want to get all wet."

"I just have to see..." Will uttered as she opened the shutters.

**BOOM!!!**

The lightning bolt shot straight into the Guardian of Quintessence's chest, knocking her backward into the wall!

"**WILL!!**" the girls screamed.

They ran to her aid but, to their surprise, Will Vandom stood up, waved them off and said "I'm okay. It's only lightning, after all."

"Man, what a horrible storm! Have you ever seen anything like this before, Corny?" Irma asked her colleague.

"I..."

But the Guardian of Earth had no answer. Cornelia didn't know how to tell Irma of the conversation she had with the Guardian of Fire about how the climate's changed since she saved the world.

Cornelia exchanged a knowing look with Taranee, then...

"Ah!"

The Fire Guardian seized her head.

"Taranee?! Are you okay??" Cornelia inquired.

"It's Hay Lin! She's trying to tell me...There's a typhoon out on the water...She and Aang are going to try to stop it before it smashes into...Wait! She sees a huge wave coming at them! A tsunami!"

Then Taranee went silent.

"And? You can't leave us hanging like that!!" Irma complained.

"I'm sorry. There's too much static from the storm. And they're too far away. There's nothing we can do." Taranee admitted the ugly truth, and hung her head.

Unnoticed by the others, at the first sign her friends were in trouble, Cornelia Hale bent down and touched the floor. The floor that was 10 stories above the ground!

Within moments, a low rumble echoed through the tower.

It was a tremor!

A rolling tremor that seemed to be headed in the direction of the sea!

Minutes later, Taranee received a telepathic 'all clear' from the distant Air Guardian.

_Hay Lin? What happened?_

_I don't know, Tara! The typhoon and tsunami just collapsed! Some people felt the ground shake, so it must have been an earthquake that did it! Although I don't know how an earthquake would destroy a typhoon!_

At the same time, the skies outside the Palace tower cleared.

Immediately, all eyes focused on the Earth Guardian.

"Cornelia...What did you do?" Will asked.

The Plant Spirit stared at her hands in disbelief.

"I...I don't know."

_Next:_

_The Guardians say goodbye to the Avatar's World._

_Well, MOST of them do!_

_Find out who stays (it's more than one!) and who goes._

_Plus: Katara bids farewell to Aang!_

_It's a tearjerker supreme in the next dramatic epilogue,_

_complete with soundtrack!_

_And then..._

Notes / Comments

Ryoko didn't hurt Shen during their bedroom 'romp'. Shen was injured trying to get away from her.

The earthquake forced up pockets of air held underground. The infusion of so much cold air increased the air pressure and dampened the energy of the storm, causing it to dissipate.

Why was Will hit with a lightning bolt? Maybe it's fate's way of telling her she overreached with the 'let's copy Zuko and experiment with the Heart' bit. Maybe. Or maybe it's something else.


	32. Epilogue 17 Goodbye

What If Zuko Won?

_Based on events in W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_

"Only flesh wounds! Only out-patients!"

- _Thriller_ (comic book), 1983, by Robert Loren Fleming

Epilogue 17: Goodbye, or, It's A Beautiful Day

_The world still needs you, Katara._

_Aang__ still needs you._

Katara woke up with a shot. "What the??!"

"...Sokka..."

"Katara!" the older man's voice called to her from outside her room. "It's getting late! Don't you want to say goodbye to your friends before we go?"

"Coming, dad!" Katara responded as she jumped out of bed and hurriedly dressed.

_The heart is a bloom_

_Shoots up through the stony ground_

_There's no room_

_No space to rent in this town_

_You're out of luck_

_And the reason that you had to care_

_The traffic is stuck_

_And you're not moving anywhere_

"I'm sorry for everything I did. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you..."

Before the new Avatar could leave on his mission of peace and reconciliation, he felt he had to make a personal apology to those he had wronged.

"What is this? Part of your twelve-step program? Hmphh!" Irma caustically remarked.

"What??" Zuko was frequently confused by the Water Guardian's impossible to understand references to her home world.

Taranee and Hay Lin kept silent and didn't respond to the former Fire Lord.

Cornelia, though, as usual, had no problem finding her voice!

"Never mind the apologies, Zuko. You've done quite enough already!"

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't think we'll be needing anything where we're going." Will politely replied.

"No, thank you for earlier. What you said really helped me." Avatar Zuko said to the Energy Guardian.

"You're welcome."

After Zuko had left, one of the Guardians had a question for her leader.

"Why are you so nice to Zuko?" Irma asked. "I could understand Taranee acting that way...She doesn't know people, so she's always falling for some line!"

"Hey!" the Fire Guardian exclaimed.

"Or Cornelia. Especially after she played kissyface with..."

"Do NOT finish that sentence, Irma Lair, or...!" the Earth Guardian threatened.

"But you, Will? I don't get it! He beat you up, locked you away..."

"Irma...I had a lot of time to think while I was...away. More than that, I had a lot of time to talk."

"Talk? With who??"

"The Spirits. And they told me Zuko's story. His long, painful story. After that, it's a little hard to hate him."

"So just like that (Irma snapped her fingers), you forgive him?"

"No, not just like that! But I understand a little about him. And I know how hard it is to be a leader. You should hope you never have to go through that. So give him a chance."

"You go ahead and give him a chance! But not me, sister!"

"All this talk about forgiveness and chances. Has anyone thought about what we're going to tell the Oracle?" Taranee finally broached the one subject the Guardians had all been avoiding, ever since they learned the Oracle was once the Dark Avatar, and actually sent them to the Avatar's world!

"That dirty S.O.B.?!" Irma angrily railed. "I know exactly what I'm going to tell him! How dare he send us here to fix his mistakes!!"

"Sent who where?" said someone new at the door.

"Never mind, Katara! Anything we can help you with?"

"Do you know where Aang is?"

After tracking her friend down, it was finally time for Katara to say goodbye.

"Hey, Aang."

"Hey, Katara."

"Just thought I'd, you know, say goodbye." Katara said in a monotone to mask her true feelings. She shuffled her feet nervously and avoided making eye contact with the Air Monk.

"It doesn't have to be goodbye!" Aang rejected the notion. "I won't be training Zuko all the time! Plus, Zuko has his own airship he got from the new Fire Lord, so I can visit you on Appa down in the South Pole anytime I want!"

"Aang..."

"Sure, I'm also gonna be busy with that 'Truth & Reconciliation Commission' we're starting up, and after that 'vacuum bending' thing I realized I'm not a true air bending master, so I plan to search the old Air Temples for air bending scrolls and knowledge whenever I get the chance, but I can still make time for you!"

"Aang!" Katara forcefully interjected. "That may not be the best...idea. I'm traveling with my father now. A group of us from the Water Tribe are joining with a group from the Earth Kingdom & Fire Nation to tour the Earth Kingdom and help out with any post-war problems. I don't know exactly where we'll be, or when we'll get back to the South Pole."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"So this is it?"

"Yeah. It is. I'm sorry."

"I...I understand."

Aang's heart broke as he watched the girl he loved walk out of his life forever.

He didn't understand.

Not one bit!

"It gets better, Aang." Hay Lin consoled the last air bender.

Aang winced at the words. How could anything get better after a crushing, emotional blow like that?!?

"Errr...That's what they say, anyway!" Hay Lin quickly added, then smiled weakly.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Irma stopped her fellow water elemental, and very good friend, out in the hall as the water bender was leaving.

"Yeah. It's gonna be difficult, but I'll be okay." Katara replied, without a trace of emotion in her voice. She was staying strong so she didn't cry. She had lost so much already - her mother, her brother. She couldn't bear another great loss.

"Have a good life, Katara!" Irma embraced her friend.

"You too, Irma Lair!"

She didn't want to cry.

But one tear did manage to escape, and rolled down her cheek.

Then Katara spied another she had to bid farewell to.

"Bye, Toph! I really enjoyed our time together. It was fun!"

"It'd be more fun if you were coming with us." Toph muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Toph, before I go... Make sure Aang varies his diet, and eats plenty of nuts! Too many fruits and vegetables makes his stools soft and runny."

Katara began to walk away, then turned around and said "Oh, and don't let Aang get too much sun! You know how easily he burns!"

"Sure thing, Katara! You want me to chop his food into little, bite-size pieces, too?"

"No. Aang usually chews his food pretty well...Oh. That was a joke, wasn't it?"

"Katara...We have to go."

"On my way, Dad!"

"Bye, Toph!" Katara waved. Then she turned away, slumped her head and marched down the hall "Just...bye."

_You thought you'd found a friend_

_To take you out of this place_

_Someone you could lend a hand_

_In return for grace_

_It's a beautiful day_

_Sky falls, you feel like_

_It's a beautiful day_

_Don't let it get away_

"A group of us are going to the Earth Kingdom to help out with reconstruction there." Jun Yi told her good friend, Cornelia Hale.

"How big a group?"

"A few from our crew..." Jun stole a glance at her fellow reconstruction volunteers. Cornelia astutely noted the boy Jun had been crushing on earlier was among them.

"...And I was told some citizens from the Fire Nation's Eastern Islands, plus even some Water Tribers and Earth

Kingdomers will be joining us!"

"Really? That's great, Jun! The Nations really are coming together!"

"Yeah. I just wish you could come with us, but you're…"

"I know. I wish I could go with you, too. So, uh, how are your parents?" Cornelia said, quickly changing the subject. "I doubt they were…overjoyed you broke up with the new Fire Lord."

"No. I wouldn't characterize their mood as 'overjoyed'. My father actually used a lot of words **I** never heard of, and that's saying something!"

"If you want, I could put in a good word for you."

"You don't mean you, Cornelia. You mean the 'Plant Spirit', right?"

"Anything I can do to help!"

"Thanks for the offer, but this is something I have to take care of myself." Jun hugged her dear friend.

"I understand. Bye, Jun! Treat the planet well!"

"I will!" Jun said as she waved farewell.

"So, how's your friend? Will she be okay?" Caleb asked his love.

"She'll be fine." Cornelia replied.

"That's good." Cal flatly responded.

"But Caleb, I've been thinking..."

"Cornelia, I've been thinking..." he said at the same time she did.

_You're on the road_

_But you've got no destination_

_You're in the mud_

_In the maze of her imagination_

_You love this town_

_Even if that doesn't ring true_

_You've been all over_

_And it's been all over you_

_It's a beautiful day_

_Don't let it get away_

_It's a beautiful day_

Later, the couple that consisted of the boy from Meridian and the blonde from Heatherfield met with the other Guardians.

"I've decided..." Cornelia began, then paused.

"And I've decided..." Caleb jumped in.

"That is, we've decided that, well, we're going to stay here." Cornelia finally spat out the unthinkable news.

"What??!" Irma screamed.

"No!!!" Hay Lin yelped.

But the leader of the Guardians was much calmer, and took the shocking decision in stride.

"Are you sure about this, Cornelia?"

"This world needs me, Will. I can't...I can't abandon it. Not now, anyway."

"And it won't be for forever. Just till the next time our world and the Avatar's world are in alignment." the Earth Guardian added on a hopeful note.

"I understand, Cornelia. Take care." Will Vandom hugged her friend goodbye.

"Thanks, Will. I know I may not have always said it, and sure, I did criticize you a lot, but you were always a great leader! And a better friend!"

"Thanks, Corny! But all those times you questioned my leadership, you didn't do anything wrong! Heck, you made me a better leader!"

"I...I don't understand, Cornelia! How can we be W.I.T.C.H. without the C? Then we're just W.I.T.H., but we're not with you!!" Hay Lin tearfully cried. "You know, all our years growing up together, I always looked up to you! You were like the big sister I never had. Now, it'll be like missing a part of myself."

"Shhh, little sister. Don't cry. This isn't goodbye. It's 'until we meet again'."

"I can't help but feel this is all my fault!" Taranee Cook moaned. "If only I had been a better friend, you wouldn't have had to go through...what you did."

"Don't ever say that, Taranee! Without you, your support, I would have gone crazy a long time ago! I can still remember how you would sit with me for hours and talk to me while my spirit was lost in the world!"

"You remember that? I'm going to miss you, earth girl!" Taranee embraced the struggling-to-hold-her-emotions-in-check Guardian of Earth.

"Yeah! (Sniff!) Me, too."

"Oh, Irma, I'll miss you most of all!" Cornelia hugged her best friend. "You were always there to keep me grounded and make me smile!"

"Now you're stealing lines from 'The Wizard of Oz'? Well, Corny, I won't miss you that much! I mean..." Then Irma collapsing in Cornelia's arms, crying silently.

"I know, Irma. I know."

"There's just one thing you guys have to do for me." Cornelia said after everyone regained their composure.

"Name it."

"You have to promise to look in on Lillian every day. EVERY DAY! I mean it!"

"Sure. We can do that. No problem."

"And I have to stay to catch Phobos and bring him to justice! He's still on the loose, you know, and is one of the reasons the Oracle sent me here in the first place!" Caleb interjected.

"You know, Caleb, you could at least PRETEND I'm one of the reasons you're sticking around!" Cornelia huffily commented.

"But you are!"

"Hmphhh! Don't talk to me!" Cornelia turned away from her boyfriend, arms folded in annoyance.

"Cornelia! Come on, don't be like that!"

"Well, at least they'll be fine!" Irma wise-cracked.

"Yeah. Come on, guys. Time to go." Will called to the elemental Guardians to follow her through the portal back to Heatherfield.

"Yeah. Okay."

Taranee, Irma and Hay Lin glumly gave one last look at a cheery, waving Cornelia, then exited the Avatar's world forever.

"Caleb? I…I'm glad you're here. I…"

Then Cornelia fell into Caleb's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

_Touch me_

_Take me to that other place_

_Teach me_

_I know I'm not a hopeless case_

_See the world in green and blue_

_See China right in front of you_

_See the canyons broken by cloud_

_See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out_

_See the Bedouin fires at night_

_See the oil fields at first light_

_And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth_

_After the flood all the colors came out_

"Dad, did your heart ever tell you one thing, and your head another?"

On the way to the port to board the ship that would take them on the next stage of their life's journey, a moment of hesitation.

"Katara, it's okay. Go."

"Really? You'll be alright in the Earth Kingdom without me?!"

"We'll be fine. We can always find another healer. You take care of what you have to do." Chief Hakoda advised his only child.

"Wow! Thanks!" Katara exclaimed as she ran off. Then she turned to her sire and yelled "I love you, Dad!"

_It's a beautiful day_

_Don't let it get away_

_It's a beautiful day_

While Avatar Zuko readied his airship for his mission of repentance around the Fire Nation, his traveling companions and bending trainers, the Air Nomad and the Earth Kingdom girl, joylessly prepared Appa the skybison.

Then...

"Aang! Toph! Wait!!"

The water bender practically jumped on her friends, wrapped her arms around them and gave them such a hug they thought they might pass out!

"Thanks for coming back, Katara! I knew we could count on you!" Aang beamed.

"I still think this is a bad idea, but…I'm willing to give it a shot." Katara replied.

"Thank you." Zuko smiled. "I'm glad you decided to join us."

Katara smiled in return, for the briefest moment, then assumed her 'cold shoulder' face. "Hmphh! Let's get one thing straight. I'm not doing this for you! I'm doing it for Aang and Toph! So you better watch it, mister! One wrong move, one step out of line, and I'm going to come down on you so hard you're going to think water is a solid object!" she declared, punctuating her points with sharp finger pokes to the former Fire Prince's chest.

"Okay, okay! Jeez! I get it!"

"This might be a little difficult, Katara, but you know what? I think it's what Sokka would have wanted!" Toph remarked. She and the Water Tribe girl sat astride Appa's saddle, while Aang, at the front of the great beast, happily yelled "Yip yip!"

"I think you're right, Toph. I think you're right. But just between you and me?"

"What?"

"Don't tell him that!" Katara cheekily said, pointing toward Zuko in the nearby airship as they all sailed through the sky to their next adventure.

_Touch me_

_Take me to that other place_

_Teach me_

_I know I'm not a hopeless case_

_What you don't have you don't need it now_

_What you don't know you can feel it somehow_

_What you don't have you don't need it now_

_Don't need it now_

_Was a beautiful day _

- "Beautiful Day" by U2

_Come on, you didn't think I'd end this story on a downer, did you?_

_As if!_

_Next:_

_The Oracle!_

_And the return of...?_

Notes/Comments

Irma said "But you, Will? I don't get it! He beat you up, locked you away..."

Zuko put a major hurt on Will in Chapter 20 of _W.I.T.C.H. in the World of Avatar_. He really did a number on her!

At the end of the story, Aang, Katara and Toph accompany Zuko to teach him mastery of the elements. Katara doesn't like it, but agrees to try. So the tiniest little crack in a possible Zuko/Katara relationship is kept open. Unlikely, sure, but the _teensiest_ possibility of it happening is there.


End file.
